AN- Thanks everyone for your responses and I hope you like this.
If you got the alert for this chapter for this twice then I'm sorry, I was making a change and landed up deleting it and then had to repost the chapter.
He doesn't return the next day, not the day after that and not even the day after that.
And it drives her off her mind.
Not a call or a message, not even a hurriedly written post-it on the fridge.
There was nothing.
She dozes off in front of the fire and wakes up to an eerily empty house.
Stefan has been in the tomb for a month and more now and this is the first time she truly feels alone.
Alaric mentions that yes, they had met two nights before but he has no idea where he is now. Or why is his phone switched off…
He does take her to his house though and offers her the guest room. It was not safe without Damon.
He means the Salvatore house; she knows that it's true for any place, anytime…
She is not safe without Damon. Period. She has known that for some time now.
One night she wakes up cold and scared…What if something had happened to him?
The other nights she dreams about him, his face twisted into a sarcastic smile, his eyes widening when he wants to make a point and sometimes she dreams about the sadness in his eyes she had seen when she had told him that she did not love him…
She has stopped eating altogether now and blames it on Damon for not being around to force food down her throat. She remains flushed and fidgety and guesses that she has probably caught a bug of some kind.
She still goes to school though, because Alaric's house is too empty and she cannot stand it…
It's on a day like this when he returns.
She is on her way to class when he suddenly appears, grabbing her arm and looping it through his own, "what's up?"
She is too stunned to respond.
He flashes her a grin and offers to carry her books for her. She hands them over wordlessly, still too unsure at his appearance.
She takes a hard look at him, just to double check and notices that he looks perfect.
Obviously, he had not been any kind of danger.
And all this time she had been getting nightmares…A sharp, boiling rage builds up inside her and she quells it down just so that she can enter her class.
Elena widens her eyes in shock when Damon continues to follow her inside and slides casually in the chair next to her, "Listen…" he says.
She looks around, there was no teacher yet but several students were giving her a weird look.
"I found a way to get Stefan out…" He blurts out to her and she jerks her head to look at him in surprise.
"What?"
"Yeah, some not so kind witches finally compromised…"
"Damon?" It's Mr. Saltzman and he looks as shocked as she feels.
"Rick." Damon responds in a greeting and then gets up from his place, smiling happily at Alaric and returning Elena's books to her table.
He ruffles her hair next, in a way she probably wouldn't even allow her mother to do. It's a strangely intimate gesture.
"I'll see you at home then." He calls out loudly and all but dances off outside the class.
Did he just say home?
She looks at Alaric who is still staring after Damon in a shock, "well, there is certainly a bounce in his step today," the teacher remarks dryly.
She has no thought of doing it before she does it, and afterward she can scarcely believe that she has done it. Not like it was the first time.
But it was a good hard slap, with the full force of her body behind it, and it all but turned Damon's face an inch to one side.
"Where were you?" She seethes at him.
He runs a thumb along his cheek and she sees his eyes change reactions from surprise to anger.
She picks up her hand again, not believing that there is still so much anger in her but he catches it effortlessly, like she knows he would. You can surprise Damon Salvatore only once.
"What. Is. Wrong. With. You?" he seethes at her, his tone clipped and each syllable coming out through gritted teeth.
"You left me alone."
"Ric took care of you, didn't he?" he snaps at her. Because didn't she know that he would never leave if he didn't know that they were others to look out for her.
"Let go off me Damon." She struggles against his hold and for a few moments he just watches her try, "let go off me."
And just as suddenly he releases her and she almost trips; still seething he turns his back to her.
Several minutes pass in utter quiet. The air crackling with the tension between them as he walks to the canister and pours himself a drink, "Will you care for one?" he asks, his back still turned to her, "or would you rather prefer to take out whatever girlish angst you have for whatever reason on good old me?"
"You left." She repeats, this time much more quietly. And no, she will not admit that she was sacred, more for him than for herself.
Something in her tone though makes him sigh and he puts down his drink and walks up to her, "will you accept a verbal apology or do I have to write it down?" his voice is still tensed but his tone is teasing and she finds herself cracking a half smile at him.
"I'm sorry." She says.
"Ditto." He says almost as quietly and takes a step closer to her, wiping away a lone tear she did not had escaped during her anger burst.
The next few moments are a total blur for her; one moment the pad of his thumb is against her jaw and the next his lips are touching hers.
And she doesn't seem to have the strength to fight back, she cannot deny him this anymore…She cannot deny herself thisanymore.
For him, it's like time breaks into tiny miniscule moments, each more prolonged, more detailed than the other…
And how stupid could he have been? How had he ever ever confused Katherine for Elena?
This is real…She is real, her body warm, her heart beating, and he cannot believe that he had ever made that mistake.
The though oh kissing her then, of having her kiss him back had made him devoid of any sane sense…
But today, right now, as his lips fuse over hers and she lets out a little whimper as he palms her face in his hands and pull her closer …He knows that this is Elena, could only be Elena…
Elena, who was not Katherine.
Elena, who was his younger brother's girlfriend.
He doesn't think he has a moral bone in him but this is not what he had meant when he had promised Stefan that he would take care of Elena.
He pulls back a little, his eyes questioning and hers are a little unfocused.
He watches as they return to focus and then she faints in his arms.
AN- So? Do review.