Disclaimer: TVD belongs to whoever receives the royalties and that sure as hell isn't me. I just pretend while I'm writing.

Summary: It starts as the taste of him hits her tongue and before all is said and done, tears and blood have been spilled and lives have been lost... but most importantly none of them will ever be the same.

Elena's journey to realization that she's in love with the other brother. AU from the moment Damon forces his blood on Elena. Prequel to Unsuccessfully Saying Goodbye, but can stand alone.

AN: Lots of Delena in this one so I hope you enjoy and decide to leave a review. I want to tell all of you that have reviewed, favourited and alerted that I'm really thankful and overjoyed that you have... it really does mean the world to me... it also make me squeal in the most embarrassing fangirl way possible.

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Unwillingly Succumbing to Truth

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ashes in the aftermath

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They trio sits silently the entire ride to the Bennett house. Bonnie only gives her a firm squeeze on the shoulder and shoots a grateful nod Damon's way before she exits the car and heads to her door.

He doesn't drive off as the witch disappears into her home. "Why is it that I woke up in the cellar after the sacrifice?" His voice is disturbingly emotionless and he isn't looking at her... or anything at all. She promised.

"Elijah put you there." She says simply, but at the sharp glare he shoots her she sighs tiredly. "I may have inadvertently asked him to keep you safe against your will." She did sort of tell him so herself earlier... yesterday. "I told you I would do the same."

His powder blue eyes widen and his jaw tenses. "You said we were fine." He forces out through his clenched teeth in some sort of challenge. She isn't sure what it is, but she's determined to keep him together; to take care of him.

She smiles softly ignoring his anger completely. "We are. Can't you hear my heartbeat?" She asks cautious of every word spilling out of her mouth knowing that she's standing in the middle of a verbal minefield.

He narrows his eyes suspiciously at her and she raises one of her slender wrists towards his ear. She waits patiently while he listens to her thumping pulse, searching his face for any hints. "How?" Is all he says.

"Elijah." Is all she replies seeing his understanding clearly in his glacial eyes. She thinks she feels a bit of Elijah running through her veins as well, there's a sort of warm homey feeling that's settled inside. She can actually tell the difference between the two if she lets herself. She looks down into the ash filled bucket in her lap and tightens her hold on it. "Can we go home now?" She asks too tired to do much else.

He's obviously still furious and maybe a bit hurt by her as he starts the car without acknowledging her. He takes the first right heading for the Gilbert residence, but that wasn't actually the home she'd been meaning. She touches his forearm lightly. "No, I want to go home." She says forcing him to understand.

With a furrowed brow he makes the next left changing their course and heading towards the Boardinghouse and she relaxes back into her seat. She shifts the bucket in her arms to better secure it before she lets her lids slide shut. She's so unbearably tired.

She wakes up to him hovering over her and unbuckling her seatbelt. She quickly closes her eyes again and forces herself to breath evenly, doing her best to pretend that she's still fast asleep. She isn't quite sure why she does it, maybe she just wants him to know that he's needed. She needs him. It's selfish and she knows it. Hopefully he'll indulge her if he should realize that she's actually awake.

He scoops her up into his arms gingerly and she allows herself to melt into him as she holds onto Andie for dear life. She can smell the faint remnants of the vervain and dirt floors from the cellar he was stuck in, but there's also the familiar scent of his cologne and leather jacket... most importantly there's the unmistakable fragrance that is purely him and it tickles the back of her mind, reminding her of the yet to be understood buzzing there. She'll deal with that later. Right now she's just going to enjoy the warmth tingling throughout her body as he cradles her in his safe arms.

Once they're inside and he's almost made it to Stefan's door she lets her lids flutter open. "Not there." She says effectively stopping him in his tracks. She isn't sure why she stops him, but something just doesn't feel right.

He peers down at her curiously, like he for once doesn't actually understand what she's saying. He always does otherwise; she kind of likes him like this. "Then where?" He asks softly and she thinks he knew she was just faking; she kind of likes him this way too.

She hugs the bucket to herself tightly; she gave her courage and tried to save her. "With Andie." She says in a small voice and she can feel tears burning behind her lids as she slides her gaze up to meet his.

He looks torn and she can feel the muscles in his arms twitch, but he doesn't put her down. "I..." He starts, but trails of letting out a resigned sigh. His eyes dart into the distance and she thinks he's evaluating the different rooms in his mind. She just wants to stay with Andie... and him.

"Your room... if it's OK." She says so quietly that she knows it's hard for even his overly receptive ears to hear.

He stiffens considerably and looks down at her with wide impossibly blue eyes. "What?" Maybe she's making it too hard for him... maybe he doesn't want to have to share Andie with her.

She looks away sheepishly; she can't help how selfish she is with him. "I'm sorry. You probably want to be alone with her. I... any other room will do." She mutters in embarrassment realizing that with the return of the real Elena all her characteristics have returned... even the self-centredness.

"I just didn't hear you." He says in the form of a question as if he's asking if the lie will do; they both know he heard her.

Smiling softly she lifts her big brown eyes back up to meet his crystalline blue. "OK." She says and they both sweep the previous tension under the rug as he turns back with her still cradled in his strong arms and heads towards his wing of the house.

They're both lying on his bed turned towards each other with the bucket of their Andie in between them. He's letting her share a little bit of his amazing girl with him. She's grateful that he's making the promise to her so easy to keep.

"She almost managed to take out Greta." She says smiling sadly as her eyes fill with sorrow seeing the broken look in his eyes. "She was so fierce and beautiful. You would have been so proud. I was really proud and she helped me to not be afraid."

Her tears spill over as soon as his do; he never cries and it's painful to experience. "Tell me what happened... all of it." He pleads brokenly. She will take good care of him.

She nods and proceeds to tell him all of it in a hushed voice, afraid to break the fragile atmosphere around them. She tells him how she found her, what she said and did. She tells him how magnificent she was. She tells him everything except their shared promises, that is hers and Andie's alone. She doesn't want him to ever think that she's there for him because of a promise; she would be there no matter what. Instead she tells him how much Andie cared for him because that is after all what the promises came down to... both of them care deeply about the damaged blue eyed boy, flaws and all.

When she stops talking they both just stay silent gazing vacantly into nothingness as their minds both drift. I doesn't take long before sleep claims them both.

Despite being in a dream, she knows it's not. It's real and he's sitting on her windowsill commenting on her pyjamas. He has her necklace dangling from his pale sculpted hands. What he's saying is so profound and it has such a large emotional impact on her that she simply can't get her vocal cords to function correctly. The hole in her heart shifts and reshapes itself to fit him perfectly, just waiting for him to step inside. He never does and he takes it away from her; takes away the knowledge of what shape the hole in her heart has taken. He removes himself from the threshold of her heart, never daring to take the final step inside.

"Elena." He sounds worried as he shakes her awake.

She opens her eyes to look up at him, but she can't see through the haze of hot tears streaming from her eyes and down her full cheeks. She wants to slap him and yell and curse. She wants to hate him for taking that precious memory away from her. She knows that that's what he did. She knows that what she just saw already happened; she can feel it. BUT she can also feel him coursing through her veins and tucked away securely where he didn't dare step inside. He made it there anyway; it's where he belongs.

He pulls her into his arms and wipes away the tears staining her cheeks with the pads of his thumbs. "Shh... it's OK 'Lena. I've got you. It's OK." He murmurs into her silky hair as he rocks her slowly in his arms where she feels so safe.

"What's wrong?" Stefan is suddenly standing by the side of the bed and she feels the other brothers arms tighten around her possessively. She is worse than Katherine.

"She's fine. Just a nightmare." He murmurs into her tresses still rocking her soothingly back and forth in his arms.

Her sobs finally subside and she sniffles pathetically letting her boyfriends brother sooth her. She can't deal with this just yet so she doesn't. "Klaus isn't dead." She states quietly and waits for the shit storm to hit and hide all other evidence.

Stefan pulls on her arm and forces her to face him. The whites surrounding his emerald irises bare hints of accumulating red and she involuntarily presses herself further into Damon's solid chest, desperate for the comfort and safety she knows is there. "What?" He spits in a way that makes her flinch and try to pull her arm out of his iron grip.

"You're hurting me." She hisses angrily back still trying to yank her arm out of his clenched grip. She can feel the bruises start to form on her arm and it only makes her angrier. "Let go of me!" She shrieks right before a pale hand darts out from behind her and grabs Stefan's wrist.

"Stefan control yourself." Damon says calmly, but Stefan doesn't let go instead he just glares back at his brother. There's the sickening sound of bone being slowly crushed as Damon's grip on his little brothers wrist tightens. "Let go." He warns still in that calm velvety voice of his.

Growling from somewhere deep in his chest he finally releases her arm. "Talk." He snarls, but she ignores him purposely.

Instead she pulls up the sleeve of her shirt and inspects her bruised flesh that's quickly turning a disturbing shade of deep blue. "What's wrong with you?" She questions angrily. "I just watched Jules and Andie have their hearts literally ripped out and I was just murdered. Wasn't that enough? Do you need to hurt me too?" At her final question she's exhausted and her voice falters and breaks. "You're supposed to love me." She states brokenly turning away from him to hide herself in Damon's chest and safe embrace. She knows he loves her; she can still feel him loving her.

"What are you even doing in here?" Stefan spits back instead of answering.

Anger burst forth and bubbles out and into every nook and cranny in her being. She snaps her head around and glares at him with such intensity that he actually shrinks back the slightest bit. "I was telling your brother about his girlfriends very last moments. I was telling Damon about how strong Andie was and how she gave her life trying to save mine." She has to force out every single word through her clenched teeth. The threatening note in her voice and the fury burning in her eyes is something she didn't know she possessed. How fucking dare he. She died.

"Hey." Damon puts a single finger under her chin and coaxes her to turn towards him. He's smiling so softly at her that the hurricane of anger subsides to a mere squall. "You're safe."

Her plump bottom lip juts out and begins to tremble. "I died." She states in a shaky voice. "He killed me." The remaining adrenaline in her body flushes and she's left a shaking mess with glassy eyes. "It took so long." She falls into him where it's safe and warm and she doesn't care that that creature she thought was her loving boyfriend is watching. She just wants to feel safe and loved... and she is.

His arms encircle her once more and he strokes her back soothingly. "Shh... you're safe 'Lena. I've got you. You're safe." He whispers into her ear over and over again until she stops trembling and just sits limply in his arms. "I suggest you go cool off brother... and lay of the people juice for a bit." He orders sternly and there is a clear undercurrent of violent threats beneath his calm voice. There'll be dire consequences for fucking up.

She just sits there limply in his arms until she falls back asleep. She's finally safe after much too long in the arms of a man who truly loves her with all that he is. It's unfortunate that it's taken her this long to get there and even worse that these arms aren't for her to stay within, but right now it's where she sleeps.

Drowsily she greets the others as they join them on the oversized bed; she thinks it might be almost all of them. She's too tired to take it all in properly, but she's safe and surrounded by people that genuinely care about her. So she rests her eyes and hopes for an easier tomorrow.

oOo

It's her father that sits patiently and watches over all of them. He sits in one of the overstuffed matching armchairs next to the man that married the mother of his daughter. They're all asleep except him.

At first he's surprised that it's the older, darker and far more sinister brother that lays pressed into his daughters back. The eternal raven haired boy has his arm curled possessively around her slight waist and his face is buried in her long silky hair. It's when his little girl whimpers in her sleep that he realizes that the arm around her waist isn't possessive at all as the boy pulls her the tiniest bit further into his chest protectively and murmurs... "I've got you 'Lena. You're safe."... repeatedly into her hair until her whimpers seize and she falls back into deep slumber.

It's at that moment that John Gilbert realizes that he's glad that his beautiful baby girl is surrounded by vampires; that she is loved by someone that will love and protect her long after he himself is dead. He is grateful that Damon, Stefan and sweet little Caroline are there for his little girl. Hell, he doesn't even mind the werewolf and the witch that much... although the girl is dangerously self-righteous considering all that power she possesses.

"Daddy?" She suddenly whispers brokenly into the darkness stirring the sleeping boy behind her. "Daddy?" She says again in that painfully broken way and he almost answers just so he doesn't have to hear it any more.

The blue eyed boy wakes and raises his head slightly to look at her. "Shh... 'Lena. S'alright. He's sleeping in one of the chairs at the foot of the bed." He whispers and John almost starts sputtering at the idiot. It's not him she's asking for.

She sits up, but doesn't leave the vampires embrace. "Daddy?" She whispers again; her voice stronger and not as broken.

Reluctantly he leans forward in his chair bracing himself for her to inevitably crumble. "Elena?" He says warily when she doesn't seem to see much of anything.

She heaves a heavy sigh in what sounds like relief. "Daddy." She exhales and scoots forward to the edge of the bed where she kneels and reaches her arms towards him. He isn't quite sure what to do.

Thankfully the drowsy boy sits up as well and signals discretely for him to come closer. So he does and his little girl lets herself fall right into him; wrapping her slender arms around his neck and squeezing with all her might. He smiles and mouths a "thank you" at the boy over his daughters shoulder who mouths a simple "you're welcome" back, unknowingly echoing his daughters actions from not too long ago. He might just be glad he himself is in the vicinity of this particular undead boy... despite him having turned his first love at her own request... and the mutual attempts of killing each other, well, they sort of cancel each other out.

"Go back to sleep sweetie." He murmurs into his daughters hair and gives her cheek a brief kiss which she repays before she loosens her iron grip around his neck. Maybe she doesn't hate him as much as he thought.

"Goodnight daddy." She says as she returns into the arms of the dark haired boy who hesitantly follows suit. Apparently he isn't the only one who might be in better graces with his baby girl than they thought.

Maybe... just maybe... he likes this particular undead idiot that's in love with his little girl.

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AN: I adore UDJ, Uncle Daddy John, and just hate that he was off'd. I hope my thoughts on his inner musings were adequate. Make me happy and review... otherwise I have no clue if I'm getting this right or not.