DPOV

Oh god, Kol was draining her as if there was no damn tomorrow. What the fuck? How long has he been seeing her?

"Kol, you gotta stop man, please!" I shouted, rushing over to the bed where Elena was laying under him

"Aw come on mate! Can't we just share before you whisk her away? Then again, maybe she doesn't want to leave! She likes her clients" he winked at me.

"Clients?" I asked standing up. Kol pulled himself off Elena and started finding his clothes around the room – ok great, he wasn't trying to kill her.

"What mate? You think I'd be in a relationship with Elena? I'm a free spirt! Can't tie me down" he said, he pulled his wallet out of his jeans pocket... where was this going exactly?

"Tell Elena I said 'thanks babe, have to do it again sometime' and tell her the cash in on the draws" he said as he put down a wad of cash

"Wait a minute…." I said, walking over to the dresser

"Oh, you haven't been keeping tabs on her? Your girlfriend is a prostitute, mate. One of the best in town, actually. Imagine my surprise when I rocked up to the bar just expecting to find some beautiful strippers, but instead I found the wonderful compelled to forget all supernatural beings stripping on the pole?"

Kol winked as he walked out of the room.

My girlfriend was a prostitute? Jesus Christ… How could I not keep tabs on her! Why had I agreed to stay out of her life! Shit.

She started to stir, and I bit down on my wrist and shoved it to her mouth. Kol had taken a lot of blood, did he do this often? Or was it just a onetime thing?

"Damon" she breathed when I pulled my wrist away.

"Oh god Damon... I'm so sorry… so so so sorry…" she cried, she must have remembered who I was, obviously.

"Shhh baby girl, it's OK…."

"Wait, why I am sorry?" she asked, sitting up very quickly. "You compelled me to forget everything!!" she yelled, her hand flying up to her head "oh shit…." She whimpered, falling back down to the bed, her eyes fluttering.

There was no time to argue, I had to get her some food and orange juice or something. Anything to get her blood sugars up. Clearly my blood hadn't healed her, or it was taking its sweet arse time.

"Look, Elena. Can we get out of here? I can explain everything later, when you're feeling a bit better"

"He knew. Kol knew who I was…" she said dreamily. I lifted her and took her down stairs, wrapped in a blanket from the bed she was on. I compelled the staff to close up, Elena was going home sick and not coming back for a few days.

I had no idea where she was living, so I drove us back to my own hotel room. Her eyes were fluttering, she was out cold. But she had my blood and that'd at least keep her alive, and then slowly heal her.

After getting to my room and dressing her in some of my sweats and a baggy t-shirt I had bought along, I gently woke her up.

"You need to eat. Pizza? Still your fav?" I asked, stroking her hair gently

"No Damon. You know your pasta is my fav. Salvatore specialty." She tried to smile.

I sighed. Absolutely no food in the kitchen… I hadn't really planning on needing to nurse her back to health, I thought maybe the first time we meet again we could go on a date.

"I'm sorry baby girl. Maybe tomorrow night. Pizza will have to do for now."

I called the pizza number the hotel had included in a welcome back, when I got off the phone I went back to wear Elena was on the couch.

"So… Kol…?" I wasn't sure how to approach this – not at all.

"I ah. Yeah… I was stripping one night when I needed a few extra dollars for rent, had been a slow week, I just… I don't know. I saw this cute guy across the room who propositioned me. He was cute, promised a good time, and offered good money." She sighed, it look like it pained her to tell me this

"As I continued on, I made a deal with all my clients. Get me off, and you can have it… cheaper… It worked, too. It filled the void that I now know was you and Stefan, only for a while though... God, how could you do that to me? I still have chunks of my life coming back… why would you compel it all away, Damon?"

I had no idea where to begin, honestly.

"Elena, soon enough I'm sure you'll get a memory of this, but we've done some research and it's safe to tell you before you remember, so I guess I'll just go for it?" I hummed and ha'd. I really didn't want to tell her this.

"On your graduation day, you asked to be turned. You wanted me to take you away we would go traveling. However, the entire gang – not just me... we couldn't convince you to change your mind. You refused to go to college, didn't want a normal life. Except that's what we all wanted for you…. On top of that, Klaus found a way to actually make hybrids from your blood. We had to hide you until we took him down or at least came to an agreement. You turning into a vampire would have angered him a lot more then not knowing where you were. So we shipped you off to Harvard, put a massive protection spell on you, so if people with ill intent for Elena Gilbert were in your presence, your face wouldn't show true to them. Trust me, it took some months working on that spell. We almost lost Bonnie, and that was with a coven of 10 witches plus her and Lucy. It was a tough decision to make… but we just wanted you to be safe"

"Safe? I'm a mother fucking prostitute!" she yelled. Well, this wasn't going as I expected... or what is? Even though she's all I thought about through the past four years, for some reason I never really planned how this was going to go down.

"Elena, please! I'm sorry… If I knew you were struggling I would of helped"

"If you had done as I asked in the first place, I wouldn't of had to of struggled!"

"Oh come on, Elena. Didn't you have fun though? Make lots of friends, a couple boyfriends along the way? Have the great collage experience?" That was the entire point of compelling her… We had even agreed that if she'd settled down with another guy or gal, we'd leave her be. But she hadn't, so here I was. Trying and failing to woo her back somehow.

"Does it look like I had boyfriends? And had a fun life? All my free nights were spent stripping. I mean sure, there were nights I enjoyed it. But work is still work. I didn't go to parties I wanted, meet with guys that flirted with me in class, because between working and doing assignments, I had no time."

I wasn't really sure what to say. The entire point of this was so she could have a normal life.

The hotel buzzer went off, "must be the pizza guy" I said, going to buzz him up.

When the pizza came, we ate in silence, well, she ate. I wasn't really hungry for human food.

"Fuck" Elena cried in pain, holding her head. "Jenna…." She whimpered, closing her eyes, they started fluttering and I could tell she was reliving the night of the sacrifice.

"She's dead, isn't she? Gone? She didn't come back at all?" She asked

"Elena, I'm so sorry…" I had no idea what to say

"Well, I guess I got over it… I mean I was 15 then, now I'm 22. I guess… I guess I survived and pushed through. So I only have Jeremy left?"

"And me and Stef, Caroline, Bonnie, Matt and Tyler"

"They're not family"

"They were family before we sent you away. We'd become family. We had Christmas together, thanksgiving, celebrated eachothers birthdays. We were a dysfunctional family, Elena."

"And now I have my degree it's going to go back to that, is it?"

"We had all hoped, yeah"

She was silent, picking up another piece of pizza and chewing through it.

"I… I guess. I mean, this hole in my heart I've had for four years, it almost feels filled just.. meeting you. I dreamed about your blue eyes so often. The car I own now… That's… That's the same as your car! I knew there was a reason behind why I had to have it!"

"You own a '68 Camaro?" I was shocked, she'd never shown interest in cars when I was with her. I mean, she always smiled when I opened my baby up on the freeway, but…. Going so far as buying one?

"Of course. Painted her baby blue. She was a bit… worse for wear when got her, but, well. Its not like I couldn't afford to fix 'er up. I take her to classic shows now and then, guys love a chick behind a wheel, ya know"

"There's no need to tell me, babe" I said, smirking at her, happy she was talking without raising her voice.

"Damon, I don't know about this, us. I mean, Oh god…" she closed her eyes again. Yep, the flash backs keep coming back

"The way I left Stefan…." She sighed. Yeah, that'd been horrible, more like, he broke up with her out of anger from a petty fight and we both got drunk and fucked for days, with Stefan coming home to smell us all over the house.

I still stayed silent. I had no idea what the fuck to say now. Then it hit me.

"Let me woo you back, Elena. Please. I've waited for this moment for years, but let's just pretend to be strangers, let me take you on dates, make you fall in love with me again".

"My work?"

"Well… I'm ah, not really comfortable with you working in a strip club"

"I own the place, Damon"

"OK, well how about I work there with you…" I started

"Damon we don't really have male strippers, although I can say all my girlfriends would be keen to come and watch you on the pole" She giggled. God had I missed that sweet sound. Music to my damn ears.

"No, I meant behind the bar. Why don't we start a romance like normal people? Meeting at a busy bar, I'll shyly ask you on a date, yadda yadda"

"Well it's kind of pre-organised…. But I guess, well, I haven't really had a date since Matt"

"Ahum..."

"OK, OK, yeah I'm sorry. And you and Stefan, but it's all still coming back to me."

"I guess that means I can't hold you and…"

She stood up suddenly, taking a step backwards "No, I, ah. Don't think I can trust myself, or you… To not compel me again and make this night go away"

"Elena, I wouldn't do that." I stood up to go and hold her, console her. Just wrapping my arms around her made her moan softly.

"Damon, these past four years have been hell. I feel like I don't know myself. Plus, god, when you said you were going to compel me, it broke my heart. Like you didn't love me." She started crying at that, burying her head into my chest "I hated you for that moment…" she mumbled, grabbing my shirt in her fists "But every night when I saw your eyes in my dreams, or drove my Camaro, I knew that somewhere there was someone who loved me… I just didn't know who or where."

I put my finger under her chin and made her look up into my eyes "Hey, baby girl. I'm here now, OK? I… We all… Just wanted you to have a normal life" I smiled at her, not my silly smirk, but my smile I gave her when she finally admitted her feelings. My "I'm happy" smile.

"God I missed your face" she said. Reaching up quickly to peek my lips. She still had the softest lips I've ever kissed, the scent of vanilla still surrounded her. To have her in my arms again was just the perfect gift. But gosh, she was skinny, thin as a rake. I was a bit concerned.

"Elena, look, I know we're just going to try… get to know each other again but… Are you… Taking drugs?" she blushed at my question, burying her head again into my chest.

"I…. I do some crystal here and there. Just to get me through the night, you know."

"You've gotta stop, how deep in are you?"

"I'm fine, Damon. I can stop on my own! It's just a little recreational activity"

I looked down at her, filing that bit of information away for later, I'd talk to her more about it tomorrow, when she'd recovered from Kol draining her. I was stroking her cheek when she spoke next;

"Why don't we watch a movie or something?" she suggested, pulling back from my grasp a little.

"Sure thing. I told your work you won't be in for a few days"

"My work? Damon I own the place" she looked at me confused

"Oh, right. Well then I guess I don't need to compel the owner to hire me" I smirked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Yeah well, tomorrow is pay day so I have to go in and give everyone their paycheques" she sighed "I'm thinking of paying them more because I just.. I have to much money and it's becoming a real issue, I'll have to start hiding it soon"

"Elena, you're not… going to carry on with the prostitution and stripping, are you?" please say no, Jesus Christ… say no.

"The prostitution? No, but stripping? I mean, the bar doesn't make that much money. I mean, my apartment is totally paid off, I have no debt, but I like my lifestyle now that I'm not in uni"

"I have money for us, you know that"

"Perhaps that memory hasn't come back yet, but lets not talk about it now. You're supposed to be woo'ing me. Not trying to make me a gold digger" she snigged and sat back down on the couch.

I got up to throw some random comedy on, I knew she always watched these because, and I quote "we have to much action and drama in our own lives"

"You remembered…" she smiled.

"of course baby, that stuck with you then? Through these last four years?"

"Yeah, well sometimes my flatmate made me watch the odd chick flick drama show, or her boyfriend would make us watch action, but I've always preferred comedy"

She leaned into me when the pizza was all done, her head resting on my lap, and my fingers slowly playing with her hair.

"I feel home, somehow. With you, right now. I just feel.. Safe…"

I had to laugh at that "You loved me because I gave you adventure"

"Well yeah" she responded "But… I trust you to keep me safe during those times" she smiled.

We watched the movie in a comfortable silence, almost like old times. Except we slept separately, which I knew we wouldn't sleep together the first night, but it still killed me a little to not hold her while she slept.

EPOV – One week later

It was so weird having Damon in my life now. And despite trying to tell Damon I would be OK with all my memories rushing back, when he dropped me off at home the following morning I sobbed in bed for a good few hours, reliving the death of my folks and of Jenna. It was just too much to hold in. I relived the entire thing. The time leading up to it, during it, and after it. Of both deaths. It was pretty heavy, but then I actually did remember that I got over it. And it had been like five years. I had to get over it.

Damon still acted the same as my memories told me he did, and screw me over if it wasn't making me fall in love all over again with him. Was it to quick? We hadn't even been on our first date, which was happening tonight after we both knocked off work. I had agreed to stop stripping, he had agreed to make us more business to get the cash coming in.

Damon had suggested we become a restaurant of sorts. It's not like we didn't have the facilities. So now we had a breakfast opening from 6am until 10am, then we opened again at our usual time of 1pm for late lunch and stayed open until midnight on, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. And 3am on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Closed on a Sunday. It worked well. It meant myself and Sophia could take a day off without worrying about who was managing the club. I didn't mind that Damon had come and made changes, if anything it took a lot of stress off my shoulders I had no idea I was even carrying. I hadn't even touched a pipe since the night we meet again.

"So" Sophia asked while we were cleaning up from the breakfast shift "This Damon guy... He's from your past?"

Oh man, how to tell Sophia about him, what he was…. What I'd been through…. Then I realized something, almost the same way I realized Stefan was a vampire. Whenever she broke a glass and I thought I saw blood she'd say it was nothing.

"Wait a minute… You… You…." I was speechless.

She broke into laughter, "Yep, Caroline stuck me here to keep an eye on you"

"For four years though?"

"Yeah well, I owed her a favour. She saved my arse with witch a few years back. She asked me to infiltrate my way into your life and make sure you'd be safe without letting on I was a vampire" she said while casually counting money from the morning shift.

"Caroline?"

"Long story, buddy. We met on summer holidays when she went down under. A witch friend of hers was super mad at me. Apprently I hit on her a bit too much and she got angry, realized I was a vampire, and attempted to kill me for no good reason really!"

"Bonnie Bennet? I asked, laughing

"Yeah, that's the one! Beautiful girl, smelled like she'd taste gooooood and I don't mean her blood" she smiled, winking

"Yeah… She's not down with vampires or…. Woman. She's straight as straight can be" I said giggling, then I clicked "Oh, hence why you started a few weeks after collage actually started"

"Yeah, had to get transferred and all that shit out here from NY" she replied "Took you long enough to figure it out. I cut myself so many times and healed right in front of you"

"I guess I just blocked it out…" I sighed. "Damon has nothing to do with this?"

"Oh, I know him…." She started, I guess I put on a pretty upset face because she quickly jumped to correct herself "Argh, god not like that. I was a friend of Lexi's. I'd met him once or twice. No darl, you know me. I don't swing that way."

"Yeah.. I know all about it…" I giggled. We had a bit of an... On again off again relationship. Well, not a relationship, more like a "I'm horny, wanna fuck?" relationship.

Damon walked in, bright smile on his face "Hey baby girl" I grinned and blushed muttering a "hi". I have no idea why he made me nervous when other people were around

"SOPHIA?! Wow! Long time!"

"Damon you cunt! I heard about what you did to Lexi and I am not happy with you"

"If you were going to harm me, you would have done it by now" he grinned

"Yeah yeah, so she fucked me over in the relationship department, maybe I'm not so mad. But still, what a cunt.." she sneered at him then burst into laughter, running over to him and punching him in the arm "Good to see ya, mate". Oh, did I mention Sophia was a kiwi?

Damon just patted her on the back with a nod "You too, Soph. Can I pinch Elena away now?" I guess he didn't want to get into histories.

"Sure can, we're done here anyway. Just filling her in on the fact her best friend put me here to spy, and then in turn I replaced her best friend as... Well... her best friend..." Sophia liked to ramble a lot, I loved her for it. Took my mind off that gaping hole in my heart.

"All right, Soph, let's go 'Lena". I ran over to Damon and kissed his cheek gently, we'd become close over this past week, even though he usually worked the night shift on the bar while I was doing accounts out back. I actually hadn't seen him since yesterday morning because I gave him and two other staff the day off.

"Anymore memories come back?" he asked. I blushed so hard. Last night while I was in bed reading a rather raunchy book, I fell asleep and had a rather intense dream about Damon and me. I knew it was real because I woke up and recounted the entire things a million times, including what happened before and after. After thinking about it for a while, I figured out it was the first time we made love, well, we were drunk. So I guess it was the first time we fucked.

"Ahhhhh…" I said, not really wanting to lie and say I didn't, but not really wanting to say the truth.

"I know that look, Miss Gilbert. That's the same look you had when we woke up after our weekend of fucking and love making and you were sober. Embarrassed, shy, yet wanting to go at it again" he winked at me. God he made me want to melt in a puddle.

"Mmmhmm, well missy, I'll just have to romance you and then we can make that happen all over again, although maybe less the drunken part – I want it to be perfect"

"Damon Salvatore, my memories of you tell me nothing of a man wanting to romance and be sober at the same time" He just laughed at me

"Sweet heart, there are obviously still some memories you're missing" he bent down to kiss the top of my head, his arm was over my shoulder.

"Were are we headed?" I asked, I had noticed we walked past his car, and he wasn't hailing

"It's a secret" he said, before picking me up, and vamping me over a couple of blocks to a boutique store. He put me down and said "We're going to a fancy restaurant, and because I couldn't get into your house because you haven't invited me in yet…" he furrowed his eye brows "… I must insist you buy a nice new dress, something classy, black. I love black. Run along, I'll be back to fetch you in… Say… An hour?" He asked before vamping away again.

I walked into the store and was greeted by a young man dressed in a very fancy suit. "Welcome, Miss Gilbert. Mr Salvatore told us you would be along today, and gave us his permission to let you buy anything you'd like in this store. What a lovely man you have!" the man winked at me. Silly Damon. I could afford this on my own… But if collage taught me anything, never pass up free things!

I walked the racks, not really seeing anything I fancied. The clerk picked up on this and came to help me. "Miss Gilbert, I don't mean to be so forward, but if you'd like to wait in the dressing room in your undergarments, I will bring you some nice dresses I think will suit you perfectly. What dress and shoe size are you?"

I told him my measurements and went to wait in the changing room.

"Miss Gilbert? This will be perfect." He said a few minutes later, handing me a silk black dress through the curtain

"This is a bit… Elegant, don't you think?" I asked

"Miss Gilbert, this is exactly what Mr Salvatore is after. He's told me your plans for the evening and I think this will be perfect" The man smiled and shoved the dress a little more in my direction so I'd take it. It was a very form fitting dress, it only started to become a little lose around the knees, and it had a keyhole neckline and honestly I thought it'd choke me because I was used to wearing t-shirts or V-necks, but it felt comfortable once it was on. The straps were thick and had what I had hoped where fake Diamonds studded on them.

"Ah, sir, will you come and look?" I was a bit unsure…. Plus I could totally see her bra through the small keyhole

"Ah, Miss Gilbert, if you don't mind, please remove your bra. This dress will flatter your breasts, you do not need it"

I blushed a little and went back behind the curtain to remove my bra, noticing my panty line showing, too, I threw them off aswell.

"Tut, Tut. Mr Salvatore. It was supposed to be a surprise! Here, Miss Gilbert, are your shoes. Mr Salvatore tells me that you can walk in very high shoes, but seeing as your gown is so beautiful and long, I thought these lovely black kitten heels with a cute bow will go nicely. Mr Salvatore has already paid, we just need to make sure they fit" the clerk motioned to the shoe fitting chair behind me, So I took a seat and he helped put the shoes on.

"Wala! 'Tis perfect beauty!" the clerk said as I stood up. "Now, now. Off you two go. On your way! Ahhh young love" he said. I had to giggle, if only he knew how old Damon really was. I suppose we looked almost the same age now.

When we got outside, there was a stretch limo waiting outside.
"Now don't be mad, I know you hate being pampered and spoiled, but I think I owe you for compelling you and all…." Damon said as he opened the door to the limo for me.

"Ahum, and the four years of sleepless nights, confusion, and that empty feeling you gave me" I grunted, probably not very attractive. Oh well.

"Ah, yeah. And that. I owe you for that too." He smiled, taking my hand as we sat down in the back seats "I'm sorry" he said, with a pouty mouth and sad puppy dog eyes.

I burst out laughing at that "Damon, what the fuck? I've never seen you make that face at anyone"

He kissed my hand and let it go to pour us a glass of Champaign, "Well I think it was time to use it, in the hope you'll forgive me" he said, passing me my glass.

"Hmm" I said, taking a sip of the wine "WELL, any more of this and I can see myself forgiving you for a lot of things" this Champaign was magnificent!

"That's what I thought" He said cheekily, smiling and watching me as I took another sip.

We sat in a comfortable silence for the 10 minute drive, instead of pulling up outside a resuturant, we pulled up outside a motel.

"Now, I know I'm supposed to be woo'ing you, but I thought… Well some people wanted to see you again" Damon said

"ELENA OH MY GOD!" Caroline cried, Running out of the motel porch, Stefan and Ric following behind her. I hopped out to hug them, since my memories had come back I had felt differently about them, instead of disconnected, I felt like they were family, even though I hadn't seen them in ages. They all hugged me tightly. Honestly, memories of Ric hadn't really come back, I knew he was my history teacher, and I knew from my memories of my last few days as a teenager that he was close, but I still didn't really know how close.

"Hey guys!" seeing Care and Stefan kind of bought back the love I felt I'd lost these past four years, almost like… Everything was right with the world. Now I remembered about the supernatural, I had remember how close we were. How much of a family we had become.

I turned to Damon, hugging him and kissing him gently "Family" I whispered. "You remember now?" he asked "It's all coming back" I said, squeezing him tight and getting back in the limo with everyone following behind me.

DPOV

The limo took off down the road for only a few miles and stopped at our destination. I stepped out and took Elena's hand in mine. This restaurant was one we saw on T.V together when we first started dating. She always said she wanted to go here, I had hoped she'd never been here.

"Damon, oh god!" she closed her eyes, eye fluttering. Clearly reliving the memory. "This restaurant! I made you watch some shitty reality TV show and this was the restaurant featured! Even on my, *cough* wage *cough* at the bar I can't afford to come here! Plus… reservations! How did you get in?" she was shocked, but in a good way, I know.

"I wish I could say compulsion, but alas it was just romance. I booked four years ahead! I knew I'd come back for you, to see you. I'd give you a false name if you were living happily, but I would have become your friend, and taken you here before I buggered off and left you be"

The rest of the gang walked inside to give us a moment. Elena turned to me, her hands on my cheeks.

"Damon Salvatore. I could never settle for anyone other than you. The hole in my heart… It was too great. I would have seen those blue eyes and known you were lying to me. I love you, Damon"

I can't believe she said it already. I looked into her eyes closer, god she had beautiful eyes.

"Jesus. You have no idea how it feels to here that after four years of pining after you" I kissed her gently, my hands now on her cheeks, also. "I love you so much, Elena Gilbert" I said, embracing her and holding her close. I could feel her smile against my neck.

"Home" she whispered. "I'm finally home"

"Of course, Elena. Because home is wherever we are together"