Disclaimer: I don't own TVD or anything associated with it.

Okay, I know I haven't had much in the way of storyline over the last couple chapters. Since I'm cutting back on length, I'm still getting some Delena stuff going and that's taking up most of the last couple chapters. More actual storyline stuff is coming, I promise! This one has a little more mature content. Not much, I try to keep it modest. Thanks to anyone who reviewed, followed or added this story to your favorites! You guys rock!

Damon's POV

I look around at the Wasteland, bored out of my mind. That's probably one of the hardest parts about being here: the endless amount of time you have to do nothing but sit around and think about your life and how you screwed it all up. It kind of reminds me of what Mason Lockwood said when he came back. You know, after her tortured me. The only plus about The Other Side was you could still see your family, even if they couldn't see you. You could even talk to them through Jeremy… when he wasn't dead.

I hear the door behind me creak and I turn, expecting to see Bonnie or Katherine, but it's Tessa. She looks exhausted from trying to contact Jeremy again so we can get out of here. It's strange to think of being tired here because I'm not, ever. I don't sleep, which is actually kind of crappy because, at least in a dream I could escape this place. Still, I guess using her magic for such an extended amount of time is taxing, even for a witch as powerful as she is.

"Taking a break?" I say, turning my eyes back to the dry, dead earth, tracing patterns into the dirt with my finger.

"Yes. It must be day there because I'm unable to find Jeremy."

She sighs and tilts her head back like she wants to soak up the sun, only there isn't any sun in this place. This is probably the first time she's actually relaxed since we've been here. How long has it been, again?

"So, what did you do here all day before we showed up? This place isn't exactly entertaining."

She smiles a little.

"Not much, actually. I worked on getting the plants to flourish instead of die, build my connection with nature again. I never lost it, really, but it wasn't pure like it should have been because of my obsession with Silas and making him suffer. It consumed me. Here, that's gone. He's gone. And I finally realized that my hatred for him never did any good, so, even in death, I don't feel any sense of peace."

She laughs.

"Though it was fun for a while, to see him pay for everything he did."

"You… are a very creepy person." I say, but I can't help smiling, considering the number of times I have inflicted pain, tortured people. And considering that I have punished my own brother ever since we turned.

"From you, I'll take that as a compliment."

I look over at her. She's looking off into the forest with a strange expression, softer, somehow, than her normal look. It makes me curious…

"What do you see? In the forest, I mean. What appears to draw you in? I'm guessing that's how you knew about the Wanderers."

She looks at me, clearly contemplating whether I'm worthy to hear something so obviously personal.

"My daughter. I see my daughter."

Something jars me awake and I sit up in bed, still disoriented with my surroundings, and it takes me a minute to realize where I am. I'm home. Elena lays beside me sleeping and, from the lack of sounds throughout the house, I'm guessing everyone else is down, too.

I try to rub the tension from my face, hoping to erase the feeling that my dream has left me with. Like with Bonnie, I don't know what you would call the relationship I developed with Tessa. We weren't exactly friends… mostly, I think we just developed a mutual understanding of each other. Yes, she went crazy and was vengeful towards a couple of people for over 2000 years. But it's not like I had a lot of room to judge. I lost count of the lives I've taken many years ago. Most of them I didn't even know their names. As for Tessa, it turns out there was more to her story than any of us ever knew.

She'd had a daughter. She'd given birth to Silas' child, Alethea, and then was killed by the Travelers and denied the chance to ever know her. They'd raised her own flesh and blood to hate her, to see her as an abomination for the immortality spell she'd created, and she watched, helpless, from The Other Side. I don't know why I never wondered how their family line carried on after Silas was entombed and she'd been killed young. Now I know. I tried to be empathetic, something I'm working on and still not very good at. Plus, I've never had a desire to have children, not that I could. But I could see her story from a different perspective; the perspective of the child that hated their parent. I hated my own father because all he ever gave me was criticism and words of his disappointment. I hated him rightfully. It was different with Tessa and her daughter.

I shake my head, trying to rid myself of these memories. I know it's just the night after I came back but I really hope my whole life, or un-life, isn't going to be plagued by nightmares of things that happened in the Wasteland. Especially since, if I die again, that's where I'm headed back to, or worse. I left that little detail out when talking to Elena earlier, though we, thankfully, haven't had much time to go into depth about what we've both been up to this whole time. I know that moment is coming. I know she's curious about everything. Even if she doesn't say it, her expression always gives her away. I can't say I'm not curious, too.

I look over at her again, noting the dark circles under her eyes. She constantly looks like she's going to fall over from exhaustion, now, and it leaves me with an uneasy feeling, just like Ric's not-so-subtle look earlier.

I slip out of bed, hoping not to disturb her, but I have to get out of here. I'm wide awake and hungry now. The urge to feed has been getting stronger since I came back and I feel jittery, on edge. Even several blood bags before bed didn't satiate my hunger. In the basement, I open up another bag, savoring the taste of the blood, even if it is a little cold for my taste. I didn't miss the hunger that comes with being a vampire, but the euphoria of drinking blood makes up for it. Plus, there are other perks: the speed, immortality (assuming you don't get staked or, you know, blown up), compulsion, the power. There's that pesky issue with the sun but that's nothing a daylight ring won't fix. I look down at my own ring… which is apparently missing. I don't think Bonnie would have an issue making me another once she's up to it but I'm not sure how I feel about having a different ring than I've worn for the last 145 years. I guess it's a good thing I figured out it was missing before I went on a morning stroll.

Too soon, I hear the slurping sound that tells me my blood bag is empty and I pull another from the fridge. Don't they have a microwave in this place? Maybe it'll fill me up more if it's warm.

Before I can make it upstairs, though, a horrible scream pierces the air. Elena. I drop the bag and I'm upstairs before it can hit the ground. I find Elena frantic in bed, her eyes wild as if she's caught between sleep and wakefulness, saying my name over and over. I grab her shoulders, trying to get her to look at me, but she just looks past me like I'm not here.

"Elena! Elena!"

Finally, her eyes start to focus and she looks at me, tears immediately springing to her eyes. I pull her close and kiss the top of her head, hyper-aware of the warm teardrops that continue to fall from her eyes onto my chest.

"I'm here. I'm home."

Elena finally settled back down, not really willing to go into much detail about what her dream consisted of. All she would say was that she thought she'd imagined the whole 'bringing me back from the dead' thing. I told her I don't know why her dreamland version of my return would include the creepy Wanderers and Lucy's unlucky run-in with one of the gruesome freaks. I think that helped, her realizing that, if she'd imagined something like that, it probably would have went much smoother than the actual plan did. That's usually how it works. I have to say, we are really good a screwing up plans.

After she'd finally accepted that I was, in fact, here with her, she'd curled herself around me and rested her head on my chest. Now, she's sleeping, seeming to be completely at peace, and I can't get my mind to shut off long enough to catch some sleep, myself. I keep wondering what's going on inside her beautiful, little head. She looks peaceful enough, but, then again, she did earlier, too. I don't understand what happened after I died. I knew she would miss me… that was pretty clear when I was forced to give her a goodbye I knew she'd never hear. But look at all she's been through! She lost her parents, adoptive and biological, her brother and best friend multiple times, her Aunt Jenna, Stefan, temporarily, Ric, and every single time, she's come back. A sinister thought in the back of my mind tells me that maybe my death was just the one that broke her. The straw that broke the camel's back, they say. I don't believe that, though. I can't. The strong and confident girl I love is still in there. It'll just take time for her to heal. I sigh and clench my jaw with resolve. She'll be fine. We'll get through this.

I don't know how long I've been laying here. The clock on the nightstand reads 5:15 AM, mocking me with its bright red numbers, reminding me of the rest I can't seem to get. You'd think after not sleeping for months, I'd be exhausted, but I can't get my mind to turn off. Too much has happened, is still happening. I stare at the ceiling, counting the beats of Elena's heart. I've reached over a hundred when her breathing changes and I know she's awake. She sighs and, from my peripheral, I see her staring at me, the heat of her gaze familiar, tugging at a memory from what seems like forever ago, when she stared at me in the dark of a hotel room.

"Are you really here with me again?" She murmurs, reaching out to trace along my cheek.

"I'm really here."

I roll over and look into her eyes. They are a beautiful, chocolate brown, almond shaped, and filled with the flame of curiosity that she's always had. But, now, there is something else that lies behind them… something new and almost sad. It's different than the dead look she had when she shut out her humanity and, somehow, scarier, because I don't know how to help her. I don't know how to heal her. I can't take away whatever it is she went through these last few months and I hate it.

She touches my forehead. "What are you thinking about?"

"I just can't believe I'm home." I say, giving her a half-truth.

Suddenly, she smiles and her face lights up just like it used to.

"What are you thinking about?"

She giggles, a sound I've missed.

"Just thinking about last summer."

Elena's POV

Damon smiles, awareness creeping into his expression as he realizes what I mean. My stomach is in knots, just like it used to be, even before I could admit to myself what I felt for him. How can this feel like he never left and like we're starting over all at the same time? How can it feel familiar and new?

He leans in and places feather-light kisses from the corner of my mouth, across my cheek, down my neck. Again, he evokes contradictory sensations, my skin covering in goosebumps and burning at every nerve ending all at once. I can hear myself gasp, breathing so loud it's almost embarrassing as he rolls over and pins me to the bed, kissing across my chest, down my stomach. Finally, I can't take it anymore. I pull him back up to me, kissing him over and over again, his mouth molding to mine like we were made for each other.

Before I can even process what's happening, what I'm doing, or consider the fact that we're in a house full of very hearing-sensitive vampires, I'm pulling his shirt off and he's pulling off mine, both of us wild with an emotion that I can't even name. He stops for a second, reaches down and lifts the chain that's held his daylight ring for the past few months, looking down at it with an expression of something close to awe. For one second, we pause and I stare into his beautiful, crystalline eyes, breathing heavy and exploding with emotions I've not even thought of since the day he left me behind. Then, when I can't bear the distance anymore, we come together, lost in passion and the whispers of each other's names.