Chapter Two:

Elena's eyes fluttered open slowly and she frowned slightly as she looked around the unfamiliar room. It was clear that the room belonged to a man because of the scent of cologne hanging in the air, a scent she inhaled deeply and closed her eyes as it filled her senses. She had smelt this before but she couldn't figure out where exactly. She sat up slowly in the bed, her head feeling stuffy and her body sore and exhausted. She knew she had been asleep, how could she not know after the nightmares she had had, but it felt like she hadn't slept for a week.

She looked around the room once more and her eyes stopped on the sleeping form at the foot of the bed; it was Damon. She knew now where she was, she knew now why the room looked so strange to her. It was Damon's room and a room she had never been in before. She returned her gaze to Damon's sleeping form and she watched him as he slept, taking in all his features that now seemed so peaceful and…beautiful. When he slept Elena could easily see what all the women found irresistible about him. His angular jaw line, his full lips that were soft and relaxed and not turned up into their usual smirk that he always gave everyone. His dark hair was messy as it always was but it just seemed to add to his irresistible good looks. Elena shook her head and felt her face flush red as she realized what she was doing, the way she was thinking of Damon which was a way friends did not think about each other. She chewed on her bottom lip and looked up at him again, only this time there was a small smirk on his face.

'You know, Elena, it's very rude to sit and stare at someone when they're asleep,' came his words in his deep sultry voice which made Elena blush even more.

Damon opened one eye and then the next and lifted his head up to look at her, the smirk wider on his face now as he stretched in the chair. The smirk disappeared from his face and his eyes were serious and full of concern. He moved from the chair and sat down next to Elena on the bed.

'How are you feeling?'

Elena looked up at him, his intense sapphire blue gaze sending an unwanted shiver down her spine. 'I'm…um fine. I just…I feel like I haven't slept for a week.' Elena replied running a hand through her hair.

'Bad dreams?'

'Well… bad dream really. Same one repeating itself over and over again and each time it just felt worse than the last.' She replied and then a shiver of fear shook her body as she recalled the nightmare.

Damon lifted one hand and brushed the hair away from her neck catching Elena off guard.

'It's alright…I just want to make sure that wound really is all healed up.'

Elena let out a sigh and relaxed, tilting her head a little to the side so Damon could inspect her neck. His fingers moved softly over her skin and she closed her eyes at his touch which seemed to make Damon smile slightly to himself as his eyes moved from her neck to her face.

'It's all healed. No scars.' He replied and let his hand fall to his side.

Elena's eyes opened and she looked at him. 'Thank you Damon…for saving my life.'

'I guess that makes us even then.' He replied trying to give her his usual smirk but instead a genuine smile crossed his lips.

'I guess we are,' Elena replied and looked down, noticing for the first time that she was in her pajamas.

'How…? When…?' she looked up at Damon with brows furrowed.

'I cleaned you up last night.'

'And…who dressed me?'

'I did.'

Elena was angry and embarrassed and felt a little violated by this. She let out a disgusted grunt and hit him on the arm before fumbling out of bed. As she stood up though her head began to spin and she began to lose her balance. Damon moved swiftly and grabbed her before she fell.

'Whoa easy there,' Damon whispered as he wrapped his arm around her waist, holding her to him. Elena placed her hands on his chest and rested her forehead against it as she tried to stop the spinning feeling.

'Damon, how could you do that?' she asked finally looking up at him with a disapproving glare.

'Well one, I wasn't going to let you mess up my sheet with blood,' he said with his usual smirk as he sat her back down on the bed, 'and second, I figured that you would much rather wake up in a clean set of clothes and free of blood.'

Elena let out a sigh but she knew he was right. She wouldn't have wanted to wake up in dirty clothes and feeling sticky with her own blood.

'Don't worry I did my best not to look,' Damon said with a smirk.

Elena rolled her eyes and hit him on the arm again, her face growing hot at the thought of Damon seeing her with no clothes on. She shook her head to clear the thought.

'Where's Stefan?' she asked, the thought of him suddenly coming to mind.

'Upstairs brooding in a dark corner of his room I suppose,' Damon replied.

Elena stood up and walked to the door slowly, making sure she wouldn't get dizzy again. She reached the door and opened it but turned around to face Damon once more.

'We need to talk about what happened last night but I'm first going to check on Stefan.'

Damon saluted Elena and replied. 'Yes Miss Gilbert.'

Elena shook her head and smiled before walking out of the room and heading up the stairs towards Stefan's room.

Damon let out a long sigh and then lay back on his bed looking up at the ceiling, his once peaceful state of mind now reeling with thoughts of Elena, of Katherine and he didn't like it. He hadn't got the best night's sleep so he stood up again and stripped out of his constricting clothes, threw on a pair of black sweat pants and crawled beneath the covers. He needed a few more hours sleep and he was sure that the whole 'lovey-dovey' reunion between Stefan and Elena would take some time. The thought of Elena with Stefan made Damon growl low.

'Oh don't start that. She chose him, not you get over it.' Damon mumbled to himself.

He turned over on his side and stared at the wall. He noticed the faintest scent of Elena on the pillow and buried his face into it to inhale it deeply. She always did smell so good; her choice in whatever perfume she wore was divine and seemed to compliment her goodness that she had. Damon felt his eyes grow heavy and the more of her scent he inhaled the more relaxed he became. Eventually Damon was fast asleep, his arms firmly wrapped around the pillow as he breathed her in because he knew that this was probably as close to her he would ever be able to get.

Elena walked up the stairs and knocked on Stefan's door and waited. There was movement behind the door and then it opened slowly.

'Morning,' Elena said as she looked up at Stefan, a smile on her face at the site of him. Oh how she had missed him.

Stefan pulled her to him and wrapped her in his arms, hugging her tightly as he buried his face into her neck and placed soft kisses along her skin.

'I've…been….so….worried,' he whispered against her skin.

'I'm fine,' she whispered back as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

He looked down at her, brushing her hair away from her face.

'I'm so sorry that I couldn't be the one to…well…to do anything really last night but…I didn't want to hurt you.'

'It's alright Stefan. I understand,' Elena replied and reached up to place a soft kiss on his lips.

Stefan picked Elena up into his arms and carried her over to the bed, causing her to giggle slightly. His kisses became passionate and intense and for a moment Elena found herself getting lost in them. But then thoughts of Damon flashed into her mind and she pushed Stefan away, sitting up and sighing.

'What's wrong Elena?' Stefan asked, running a hand gently down her back.

Elena didn't know why thoughts of Damon came to mind, especially at this time, but she tried to tell herself it was simply because of what Damon had said last night and what Isobel had told her when she had been in town. She needed to clear this entire thing up with Damon. She needed to know exactly how he felt about her and….she needed to know how she felt about him because she was the one who had told him they were only going to be friends but….after what she had heard last night, something began to change inside her and she needed to try and sort all of these emotions out. Elena looked over her shoulder at Stefan with apologetic eyes.

'I'm sorry Stefan but I just…I have to sort some things out with your brother,' Elena said and got off the bed.

'What do you need to sort out with him that is so urgent?' Stefan asked with clear distaste in his tone.

'Just some things that were said last night and I need to know about them,' she replied feeling slightly irritated with Stefan.

Stefan mumbled something and this made Elena even more irritated.

'What was that?'

'You're going to ask him about the kiss aren't you?' Stefan said a little louder now, his eyes cold and glaring.

Elena stepped back slightly at the site of such coldness in his eyes. She had never seen him look at her in that way.

'I don't know what the hell you're talking about Stefan but it clearly must have something to do with me so now I'll add that to my list.'

Elena stormed over to the door, angry with Stefan for acting this way. She stormed off down the stairs and headed to Damon's room glad that Stefan was not following her.

Elena threw open the door to Damon's room.

'Damon we-'

She stopped and her eyes grew wide as she noticed Damon fast asleep in the bed, his chest bare, the pale skin enveloping well defined muscles from pecs to abs. Elena felt her heart racing as she took in his perfect form and bit down on her lower lip. She frowned and shook her head slightly to try and get her mind working again. She tip toed into the room and grabbed the bag and headed into the bathroom as quietly as she could. She needed another shower and decided to make it a quick one. She washed up, brushed her teeth and put on the clothes Damon had packed into her bag for her. She slipped on her shoes and then opened the door quietly again, looking over at Damon once more, noticing he was still fast asleep. She made her way towards the bedroom door and, before closing it she looked over at him one last time. She quickly walked down the stairs and towards the front door. She gasped and came to a sudden stop when she found Stefan blocking her path, his arms folded across his chest.

'So how did the talk go?'

Elena frowned and her irritation returned. 'We didn't talk because he's asleep so I had a shower, got dressed and now I am going to go home and check on Jenna and Jeremy so move.'

Elena stepped forward but Stefan did not budge.

'So then when are you planning on having this talk with him Elena?'

Elena let out a huff and rolled her eyes. 'When he's awake Stefan and when I've gotten a little more rest and then we'll talk.'

Stefan glared at Elena 'so you left me in the room to speak to my brother because it was just so 'very urgent' to discuss whatever it is you need to discuss with him. Then you find him asleep so now you're just going to leave and wait until later.'

'Yes Stefan that's the general idea. Will you stop acting like some jealous boyfriend! I need to clear the air between us and I will wait until later to do it.'

Elena shoved past Stefan and opened the door.

'I think you're in love with him Elena and you just want the time to make sure of that. Make sure that's what it is and then you're going to come on over here and break up with me. But I'll save you the trouble. We're done.'

Elena turned around, shocked at Stefan's words.

'Stefan I-'

'Save it. I don't want to hear it!'

Stefan shook his head and slammed the door shut in Elena's face.

Elena stood as still as a statue for what seemed to be forever and when she finally came to her senses she felt a lump in her throat and her eyes burn with tears. She wasn't in love with Damon…or was she? She shook her head and turned to walk away from the house. She chewed on her bottom lip as she walked away, replaying what had just happened. Stefan was reading into all of this too much; just like a jealous boyfriend would. He was putting words and thoughts into her mouth and head that she had not even thought of and spoken of and he just made the decision that that is exactly what was happening, took matters into his own hands and cut ties with her. Elena thought about this over and over again and the more she thought of it the angrier she became. It was such a typical guy thing to do. She forms a close friendship with his brother, he starts getting suspicious about it. The truth, or at least Isobel's idea of a truth, is revealed and now anything that happens between her and Damon is added to Stefan's suspicions until eventually he snaps and decides for the BOTH of them that its best they not date because clearly she is just falling head over heels in love with his brother.

Elena threw open the front door and marched upstairs muttering quietly as she walked up the stairs, threw down her bag in her room and slammed the door shut behind her. She flopped down onto the bed, grabbed the pillow and curled up into the ball as she let her mind go reeling away over everything that had happened. The tears began to fall and she cried silently for a while until eventually there were no more tears left to shed. She had cried herself to the point of exhaustion and through soft sobs of anger and pain she fell asleep on the bed.