Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of the Vampire Diaries

Chapter 2:

Elena woke up the following morning. She sat up quickly, sending pain down her back and arms. "Lay back down," Damon ordered, as he entered carrying a tray. "Damon?" she asked dazedly with her voice full of relief and comfort, to Damon's pleasant surprise. Then the events of yesterday came back into her mind. She put a hand up to her temple and moved to get up. "Hey, if you get up now, this professional breakfast-in-bed will be put to waste." She sat back down. He handed her the tray and sat on the edge of the bed. "Chocolate chip waffles with chocolate syrup?" she laughed. "Hey, you used to have those all the time at our house." "Yeah, they were my favorite…" she said. "Are my favorite," she corrected. "Eat," he said, and she didn't need to be told twice. As she put the first delicious bite in her mouth, she said, "So since when are you nice?" She immediately regretted saying that to him. He stood up. "Well if you prefer the real me, then I'll just take that back," darkness coming over his features. Her eyes widened for a second, before he cracked a grin and pretended to try and pull the tray from her hands. She laughed, and Damon thought to himself that he would do anything to make her keep laughing so she never had to look as frightened, as she had the day before, again.

As soon as she was done eating, Elena was up and about again. "Did you already eat?" she asked as he followed her into the kitchen. "Not hungry," he answered. He didn't mention the fact that he had eaten plenty that morning- a buffet in the woods. She sat down in a stool at the breakfast bar in the kitchen and sighed. After a moment of silence, Damon knew what she was thinking about. He stayed where he was. "Are you really going to stay?" she asked quietly. "How could I leave?" he asked so quietly, it was almost a question to himself. She finally looked at him, he eyes full of something he couldn't really understand.

"Let's talk," she said a long time later in the living room. "About…?" he asked, back to his normal tone. "How's life? Where have you been?" she asked. "Where haven't I been?" he joked. "I've been… around." She nodded slowly. "Good answer… Where were you when I called? It was kind of loud." "In this place in Kentucky that's practically famous for is martinis down there." "So you really didn't go too far," she said. "Nope, stayed around these dumpy parts," he joked. "So, have you heard from-" she swallowed, "-Stefan?" It almost seemed like she struggled to get his name out. He winced at having to talk to her of all people about his cowardly (in Damon's opinion) little brother. "He hasn't called me or anything to go out for drinks, if that's what you're asking. In fact, I don't even think I got a Christmas card. I did run into our old friend. Remember that guy who tried to kill us on our road trip to Georgia? I saw him once again. He seemed to have calmed down a little bit since then, but he wasn't too excited and anxious to hug me. He told me that Stefan had visited him to finally meet the guy Lexi had mentioned so many times. He was flying out to London the next day, the guy said." He didn't look at Elena. "And one more thing… he was on human blood." Now he looked at her and saw the pain and sadness in her eyes. "He wasn't crazy or anything. He said he seemed happy," Damon added, trying to help her, but the fact that he was content without her sent a pang through her heart. "Anyways, who wants ice cream?" he asked, trying to make that nice smile return to her face.

It worked, but there were still tears behind her brown eyes. "We just ate breakfast!" she giggled. "I don't see any signs anywhere saying dessert can't come before lunch." He pulled her off the couch and into the kitchen.

After lunch, provided by Damon, and dinner, made by Elena, the human decided to call it quits. She yawned, and as she was about to go upstairs after saying good night to Damon, who was watching TV, she remembered something. "There are a few guest rooms upstairs. You have your pick." She wasn't sure if he'd already stayed in one. Without looking away from the TV, Damon answered, "I'm good. I'm a couch kind of guy." Then he smirked at her. She went upstairs and to sleep.

Elena awoke from her dream in a sweat and knew that she had been tossing and turning for quite some time. The clock on her dresser read 3 a.m. She lay back down and closed her eyes, but sleep didn't come. After about twenty minutes of attempting to fall back asleep, Elena gave up and got out of bed. She rubbed her eyes and ruffled her tangled hair. She noticed her water glass was empty. She grabbed it and her dry throat led her down the stairs.

As Elena reached the bottom step, she realized Damon was asleep on the couch. She couldn't hear him breathing, but that wasn't unusual for him. She saw his dark still figure on the couch, and decided not to wake him. She tiptoed toward the kitchen.

One step away from the smooth cold tile, an arm pinned her arms to her sides by wrapping itself around her waist. The assailant's other arm had her around the throat. It pinned her windpipe so tightly she couldn't breathe-or scream for that matter. And suddenly it slackened, and I breathed out and relaxed too much. As the attacker spun me around to face him, I fell forward onto them. I was still half asleep and didn't have full control of my muscles.

"Sorry," Damon said, as he held my weight up. "Couldn't resist. I just wanted you to understand how quickly that can happen. I don't pay attention for one second and you're gone. Gone without a trace." I was falling asleep now that I was trying to stay awake. "But…but… they can't..get in…house…" I pointed out. He laughed at my slurring. "Time for bed? You should go back upstairs."

"No… I'll just…" I walked over to the couch and collapsed on it. "What a trooper," he joked. As I drifted off, I felt a warm blanket get pulled over me. And I had just realized I had taken his place to sleep as I drifted off again.