2
Damon woke up in bed alone. Alone? How could this be? Elena had promised him she would be back by the time he woke up, promised that she would take care of him, surely that meant she should be here with him. He knew she had gone home to clean up but she should have been back by now. She should have been back here a while ago it had been at least two hours since she left him. He was sure that since he was possibly dying Elena would have rushed to be by his side, especially now that Stefan was gone, so where was she? He still felt weak, better but weak, but he needed to know that she was safe. That that damn Katherine didn't come and harm her while he was asleep. He stood slowly from his bed to ensure that the room wasn't rotating around him like it was earlier. He would have gone looking for her either way, but being steady on his feet sure did help matters out. As he made his way down the hallway he figured he would check Stefan's room first, he doubted he would find her there, it was too soon for her to be wallowing away in his room. Sure enough as he walked up the stairs and focused his hearing into the room and realized he couldn't hear her anywhere. He sent a surge of power around the rest of the house searching for her, anything from a heartbeat to an exhale of breath, but nothing came.
Soon Damon was dressed, as usual in his black leather coat, black jeans, and Armani black shoes and heading out the door into his Ferrari. Normally it would have been faster for him just to speed run or fly to her house but given the fact that he was healing from a werewolf bite he figured it would be best to save his energy to finding her and making sure she was okay.
Within three minutes he was pulling into the Gilbert driveway. Strange all the lights were off inside, except the one coming from Elena's second floor window an open window no less. It was the middle of November, there was an original vampire on the loose not to mention his brother was with says vampire. What was she thinking, first in leaving him alone, now coming home, being home alone, and leaving a window open, she might as well ask danger to come a knocking, or in her case entering.
Damon finally reached her window, in reality it had taken him less then a second to assess the situation, climb the tree and enter her room and shut the window. The scene was all to familiar to Damon, it reminded him of a very distant past, a past he thought he wouldn't have to deal with again thanks to Lexi. Elena's white carpet was covered in blood, there was a tank top in her hamper covered in blood, but there was no Elena. Damon screamed her name before hearing the water and speed ran into her bathroom looking for her. She was lying on the floor of her bathtub, water falling onto her back and her head between her knees, arms wrapped around herself trying to keep warm in the boiling water. She looked up as he entered the room tears falling from her eyes uncontrollably. He went to her, to console her, to help her but she moved away in fear.
"stay away from me!" she yelled as loud as she could manage. Tears were streaming down her face. That's when he noticed her neck, bruised black and blue, swollen and somehow still bleeding. How had his brother left her like this? How could he be so stupid as to hurt her?
"Elena, princess, it's me Damon." He said quietly in fear he might break her. He walked to her anyways. Turned the water off, picked her up into his arms, she was dripping water everywhere but he didn't care, he just wanted to hold her and make her feel like her world could be whole again, even if it were just for a minute or two. As he walked them back into her bedroom he grabbed her robe and wrapped her shivering body into it before re-establishing her into his arms. He sat her onto her bed and began to heal her wound with his vampire venom feeling stronger at the tiniest taste of her. When she was healed and he knew she would be safe he finished packing her weekend bag.
While he packed she told him what had happened with Stefan. "Damon, it was Stefan, he came here while I was getting cleaned up, I had just gathered my stuff to come back to your house when he knocked on my window. I let him in" she said in a sob. "He hugged me tightly- it felt so good to be in his arms, and then I was in pain, I couldn't stop it, couldn't push him away, I was completely powerless to him, and he didn't even care what he was doing. When he finally stopped he looked at me, he said I had to forget him and then he tried to get to me again, but I stabbed him Damon, I stabbed him in the chest, just like you taught me, the way to a vampires' heart. I don't have a clue what I got him with but it wasn't wooden. He didn't die, he just got up screamed and leapt out my window leaving me there to die, or bleed out of whatever. He didn't care Damon. How could he not care?" She was in full on bawling at this point.
Damon didn't respond he just turned picked her up and held her tightly to his chest, so tight he feared he might break her. She sobbed on him for how long he lost track, he was just happy that she had found comfort in his arms.
Their drive back to the boarding house was short and by the time Elena got there she was passed out. How had they gotten here, how was he once again taking care of her? This was supposed to be her time to take care of him. He had just gotten the antidote to a werewolf bite after all. Never the less he parked the car in the driveway and carried her up the walkway and into his home. He didn't waste time trying to find her somewhere to sleep, and he wanted company, he needed to know she was safe. He carried her directly to his room and placed her gently on the king size four poster bed.
She stirred as he placed her on the mattress and as he laid down opposite her intending to read and watch her sleep she turned around to face him and the next thing he knew she was in his arms. As time progressed Elena began to relax into Damon, just as he too opened himself to her, she was the only one who ever broke through his barriers. Elena moaned in her sleep as Damon broke into her dreams and Elena's soul traveled through him. Elena's out of body experiences into Damon allowed her to see further into who he was, something his strong outer façade had prevented all others from seeing. She was the only human in his entire… existence he had ever felt like letting in.
Elena felt the usual rush she did through space, the floating feeling and the strong pull that made her feel like a yo-yo being pulled back up into a body. Only this wasn't her body, she felt somehow welcomed here. Standing in a dark deep black hole she questioned who would have brought her to this place of all the places she could have gone. That's when she noticed the boulder, smaller then she had previously seen it but still towering above her. She ran around the boulder trying to find the familiar face she was so used to seeing down here.
"Damon, where are you?"
" 'Lena, is that you?" Damon came out of a dark corner in the room to see Elena standing searching for him. He ran to her and catapulted himself into her arms. She caught him easily and she steadied herself. This Damon was so young, light and cheerful, she wished the Damon she knew today could be as full of light as this young child. Elena held him close and they sat onto the floor.
As she held him she told him stories of beautiful places she has seen, or things she just thought up that she thought would make him smile. They sat together for hours telling stories and playing games. Then before Elena knew it she was being flung back out of Damon and floating around his room. She turned all around and saw herself cuddled into his arms, lying on his chest, drooling. Then she was once again catapulted back into herself and back into consciousness.