AN: Again, thank you guys for sticking with me this far! I enjoy every single one of your reviews!

Damon

I was going to kill him! Rip him limb from limb and then stab him repeatedly! That bastard dared to touch my Elena, and he deserved to die for it. But right now, I have a sleeping girl burrowed into my chest and something about her presence makes me want to stay exactly where I was. Elena has power over me, a power that I would never allow anyone else to hold. If she wanted I would throw myself off of a bridge or become celibate (which, thankfully, she hasn't asked).

Today had been hell for her, and it had been torture for me to hear about it, to realize that I could've stopped it. I should've killed Klaus the first time I saw him look at Elena's ass. Just thinking over what she told me makes me burn with anger, he pushed her, he manhandled her. He made her touch him. Imagining Elena's sweet little hands being forced to wrap around him makes me want to go out and break his neck. That asshole!

I pull her tightly to me, and she subconsciously nuzzles her face into my bare chest. No one will ever hurt her again, hell, I won't let anyone touch her again; no one is good enough for my girl. I lean down and kiss her on the forehead, when I notice she smells off. She still smells like strawberries and sunshine, but there's something else there something darker, like smoke and cheap women's perfume.

Klaus. His smell is all over her, just like his hands were. I lift the covers and see that she was still in the rumpled clothes she'd been wearing when it happened, I must have missed it. Of course I did, I've never been that observant, and I was much too busy with Elena herself, than to notice what she was wearing.

I slipped my arm out from under her body and slowly got out of the bed, leaving the safe haven of warmth I had found there. Elena and I had slept in the same bed together hundreds of times, but it had never felt like it had tonight. Maybe it was because I had never held her when she slept. But then again, I'd never held anyone while they slept; I was more of a "fuck 'em and chuck 'em" kind of guy. So the sensation felt good to me, not Elena. I moved to the end of the bed, leaving the covers off of her body, and I just looked at her for a minute. Damn, she's beautiful.

See, right there! That's the kind of stuff that keeps happening to me! I'll just be minding my own business and then I get all these thoughts of Elena rushing my head. How gorgeous she is, what would happen if I kissed her, what would happen if she… There it goes again! I should not be thinking about her that way. But I can't even control it! It's like my head has a mind of its own. I want to keep spending time with her, and being so close to her, but the new thing is that I might want to kiss her too. What does that even mean? I've never felt like this before, I've felt complete lust for thousands of people, but I've only ever wanted to let one person in, Elena. And now I want to mix them together? What?

I won't lie, sometimes my head goes a little too far with Elena in mind, but that's the thing, it's not just sex, it's waking up and breakfast, and all of the other mushy and cuddly stuff. Yep, something is officially wrong; I should get my brain checked out.

Able to see in the moonlight, I move to her white dresser and softly open the first drawer. Lacy bras and sexy underwear cloud my vision. Funny, I'd always pictured Elena as a Fruit of the Loom's girl, but these are anything but plain. I grab a pair of black panties and run them through my fingers. She would be a dream in these, the black lace contrasting with her olive skin. Stop! I fling the underwear back in the drawer, and move on to the next, finding t-shirts and little shorts. I grab two at random, and make my way back over to Elena. I climb onto bed next to her and try to figure out how to change her. I really shouldn't be doing this, but I owe it to Elena. The last thing she needs is to wake up in the clothes she was assaulted in, smelling like him. A shower would be the most ideal, but I don't want to wake her.

I sidle up to her and slide my hands under her warm back, slowly sitting her up and resting her front against my chest. It's a good thing she's such a heavy sleeper, or she'd be awake in seconds. I unfold the shirt I found and recognize it immediately, because it's mine. The old, gray New York Jets shirt I had been missing since I was a teenager had been with Elena all along. I smiled, it was like her to hoard something of mine, and she had probably planned something special to do with it.

I started to unbutton her shirt while holding the back of her head with my hand, supporting her. Trying to give her privacy, I looked at her face while I did my work. Thankfully, due to my years of sex I am extremely skilled at unbuttoning and unzipping without looking. Keeping her sleeping form as still as possible, I pulled the white shirt off of her shoulders and threw it on the floor. Still holding her head and neck with my hand, I reached for the Jets Shirt, but it was a tad too far out of my reach. I rested her torso on mine again in order to gain the use of both of my arms. However, I'd forgotten that she had nothing but a bra on. Her bare stomach and shoulders grazed my chest, and my breathing stopped for a second. What the hell? I touch girls much more naked than Elena all of the time. Why is this any different?

Before my mind ran away with itself, I slipped the t-shirt over her head, and deftly moved her arms through the holes. When she was in seventh grade, the smoke alarm went off in her house due to over baked brownies in the oven. Everyone was up, ready for a fire; I even woke up in my house because of the noise. It took Elena's dad over 30 minutes to figure out how to disable the thing, and by that time I had already made my way over there to try and help him. Thirty minutes of an ear splitting alarm and she slept through the whole thing. The moral of the story is that Elena can sleep through a little clothes swap.

Once the shirt was over her head, I lifted her up and removed her skirt. I put one foot after the other into the legs of her pajama shorts before sliding them up her smooth legs and settling them on her hips. I refused to let my mind wander the whole time, and I was proud when I was finished. She lay in clean clothes, and she smelled like herself again. I moved her from my chest back down to the bed, laying her head on her pillow. Proud of my work, I slid back under the covers and put my arms around her again, spooning her from behind. I buried my head in her hair, letting her familiar scent lull me to sleep.

Elena

When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was that both my pencil skirt and my white button down from the previous night were strewn on the floor. Which was strange because… Klaus. Everything from the day before hit me like lightning; walking in, seeing Caroline, Klaus, his hands all over me, the threats, getting away, Tyler helping us … something is off. I feel the arm draped over my waist and come to a realization; Klaus is in bed with me. Oh my god!

I scrambled to get out of the bed and away from him, but he tightens his grip on my body.

"Get the fuck away from me, you bastard!" I screamed, pushing harder against the weight holding me down. I will be damned if I let him take advantage of me again without a fight. I'm shoving him as hard as I can, but he won't budge.

"Get the fuck off of me!" I yelled as I rammed my elbow into his chest. God, I was starting to feel claustrophobic, I couldn't move, and I knew what was coming next. He would strip me and have his way with me, violating me and taking what wasn't his. But I wasn't weak; I wouldn't let him rape me. I'm Elena Gilbert for fuck's sake. I lost my whole family at age fifteen, I've keep hidden feelings inside of me for eleven years, I've faced depression, I've faced loneliness, I've faced hopelessness and I refuse to be prey to this man. I thrashed around in his arms, bending my knees in the hopes of hitting his groin with my feet.

"Elena!" How dare he say my name? This fucking asshole has no right to touch me or speak to me after what he did. I'm on fire now; I can feel the adrenaline burning in my veins. I kick and hit harder.

"Elena!" He yells again. I suddenly find myself pinned under his body, his legs straddling mine and his hands restraining mine above my head. Oh Jesus. The flame in me dies a bit and is replaced with fear. He's on top of me, and he's heavy. There's no way that I'll be able to push him off of me.

"Elena!" I focus on his face for the first time, only to find that his eyes are a much more piercing blue, and his eyebrows are inky black instead of light brown. Damon.

Damon

I woke up the second Elena started thrashing in my arms. Realizing she was having a nightmare, I pulled her tight to me trying to soothe her. But then she started screaming and hitting. "Get the fuck away from me, you bastard!" She's dreaming about Klaus.

I keep her tight to me as she flays under my arm, and start to shake her and call her name. She can't hear me, she's lost in some world, but her eyes are open. Wait? She's awake?

"Get the fuck off of me!" She screams as she thrusts an elbow into my ribcage. She thinks that I'm Klaus.

I shake her more, "Elena!"

She moves harder, with newfound determination, trying to get away. "Elena! It's me!" I scream, trying to get her to focus on me. She keeps flailing around, so I do the only thing I can think off, I pin her, just like I would've when I was on my high school's wrestling team. "Elena!"

I'm on top of her, my legs straddling hers, my knees hooking around the back of her calves, efficiently locking her lower body. My hands grip her wrists and throw them above her head. I look down at her, still struggling to move her limbs. "Elena!"

Her glazed over eyes begin to focus, and I can see the realization dawn in her eyes. She knows it's me, not him. I breathe out a sigh of relief and look down at her face. But then I realize something; I'm on top of her. My body covers hers perfectly, and she's so warm under me. Her bare legs are tucked under mine, and her shirt has ridden up, letting part of her flat stomach touching my chest. The place where our skin is touching is on fire. If I moved my hands up a little more, I could lace my fingers with hers. Our hips are connected and my pants are already tight, thinking about how close I am to her center. I stifle back a groan. She's gazing at me with a funny expression on her face, and everything switches back to reality. She's your best friend, you shouldn't be thinking about her that way. But before I can roll off of her she says my name. "Damon."

Elena

Oh my god. It was Damon, not Klaus. He was probably just trying to calm me down; I was acting like a lunatic. But then I realize that I'm under him, as in, he's lying on top of me, his legs trapping mine. We've never been in this position before, ever. His body is so warm and his upper half is naked, the muscles begging to be touched. Our hips are pushed together and I can feel his arousal through the cotton of my pajama shorts, causing a torrential downpour in my underwear. I could stay like this for years.

"Damon."

"Yeah?" He says softly.

"What happened?"

He moves off of me and I almost whimper at the loss of contact. We turn to face each other, and Damon fixes the covers that I must have messed up when I was thrashing around like a mental patient. Once were both back under the covers, he speaks.

"I thought you were having a bad dream, Lena. But you started screaming and kicking at me and you kept yelling at me to get off of you." I cringed.

"That's when I figured you were dreaming about Klaus. I was trying to get you to calm down when I realized that you were awake. And you thought that I was him."

He sounded hurt by that, like I had purposely compared him to my attacker. "So I finally got you back to normal, and here we are."

He tucked his arm under my pillow and looked at me while I comprehended his words. Looking at him making himself comfortable I realized that I liked the way he looked in my bed, and the way I felt when he slept next to me and held me during the night. But I loved the most was the way he felt on top of me.

Whoa! Slow down Elena. The only reason he held you was because you needed to be restrained so you didn't break something. And being on top of you was a last resort, not anything romantic.

"I'm sorry."

"No. No. No. Lena, it's completely okay!"

I closed my eyes after a while of silence; everything was getting a little too intense. My body wouldn't forget the feel of Damon's and the electricity flowing from me could probably set something on fire. I open my eyes and they instantly connect with Damon's icy blue ones. God, I love those eyes, they're easily the best I've ever seen. He keeps looking at me, and I start to get uncomfortable. Not in a bad way, in a 'sweet Jesus I want to kiss this man' way. He breaks the silence before me.

"Are you doing okay?"

"I don't really know, honestly. I think I'm still in shock."

He looks me over for a second with caution in his eyes, like he's afraid I'll fall apart.

I continued. "I mean, I was completely horrified when I saw him in there with Caroline. I heard what he'd said before, but I didn't think he meant them."

"What did he say before?" Damon asked.

"A few weeks ago, he just said some things about Caroline. He was telling me that I should, like, brag about his skills in bed to her." Damon's face hardened again.

"I told him that I wouldn't, and he said that he didn't need my words…that he would have her whether she wanted it or not." I took a deep breath. "And he said some things to me too."

And then I realized. I could've stopped what happened to Caroline. I could've said something instead of brushing off his comment, I could have bought her a Taser to carry around at all times, I could've told Damon, I could've told the police, I could've saved her. I let out a sob, the first since I'd burst into Klaus's office. It was my fault that my friend was raped.

The second I started crying, Damon grabbed me and pulled me back into his arms.

"Shh. Baby, you're okay. You're okay."

I buried my face in his chest. "No! It's not okay! It was my fault!

He brings one hand to my head, while the other encases my waist. "No, Lena. It was not your fault. That man is a fucking lowlife, it's his fault." He soothes, stroking my hair.

"But I could've stopped it, I could've stopped him!" I almost scream. I'm so frustrated with myself. What kind of fucking person sits around and does nothing while someone threatens to hurt her friend? It should've been me, not her. She didn't deserve it, but I did. I do!

He quells my shaking with his hands. "Don't say that Lena…"

"But what if it's true?"

He has nothing to say to that, instead he just holds me tighter. My sobs escalate to the point where I'm taking heaving breaths and profusely shaking. Damon whispers calming words in my ears as he holds me. "Shh. You're okay now. I've got you. It's okay. I won't let him get to you. You're safe now. I'm here. Shh. It's okay Elena."

But I can barely hear him over the thoughts scrambling through my head. Everything was moving too fast in there, and I just wanted to scream. Every part of the previous day came to me while I cried, making me feel even worse. I've been used. I'm not good anymore. Instead I've been thrown out with the garbage. I sob even harder. Why me? What did I ever do to Klaus? What did I ever to at all to deserve this? I began to pound Damon's chest with my fists.

"Why! Why Damon? Why? Why! Why!" I screamed as both of my hands flew into his torso. "Why me? What the fuck did I ever do to him? He fucking ruined me! Now all that I am is dirty and used! No one will want me now, because he…"

Damon abruptly pulled both of my hands away from his chest and held them tight in one of his own. His other hand stroked the hair that had flown in my face, moving it back in place. "You, Elena, are not ruined. You are not dirty and you are not used. You are beautiful and the most amazing girl I've ever met. You didn't ask for him to force himself on you. He did it, not you!" he paused, "And Elena, even if you were dirty and used, even if you slept with a different guy every night and lived in the dumpster, I would still love you. Okay?"

I opened my mouth and no words came out. I would still love you. Take out two words and you get the three best ones in the world. I love you.

Don't read too much into it Elena, I scold myself. I don't want to get my hopes up; after all, he didn't mean it like that.

"Okay." I sniffled a little bit. But there was one question still on my mind. "Why do some men want to take advantage of women? Why did he keep going, even when I said no?"

Damon sighed, and released my hands. He continued to stroke my hair as he answered my question. "I don't know Elena. I don't know. Some men, like Klaus, are sick and they get pleasure out of… taking what they want, even if the girl or child says no."

I shuddered, remembering both mine and Caroline's screams against Klaus's hand. He had been rough so rough with me. My breasts hurt from his hands, and I can feel the bruises forming where he held me against the wall, and against him.

Is that how sex really is? I'd always imagined romance and passion and love, but maybe that was all in my head. Is it all about what the man wants physically? Caroline always talks about how good a guy is, but she never said anything about how it felt for her. Even if I have sex with someone I'm madly in love with (Damon) and who's madly in love with me (Damon, I wish), will it still hurt?

Damon is still lying next to me, running his hands through my hair. I speak up. "Damon?"

He focuses on my eyes again, "yeah?"

"Is that what it feels like?" Oh, god. This is so embarrassing. I know I can talk to him about anything, I've always been able to, but he is so experienced, and I'm…not.

He gives me a confused look. "What?"

I take a deep breath. "You know. Sex. Will it hurt like it did today? It didn't really feel good, and it was scary." Jesus, I sounded like a sixth grader.

"No, Elena. It will never be like that." He fumbles over his words for a minute. "Sex is about pleasure. It will feel amazing, and it can feel scary, but only in a good way. The first time for a girl can hurt a little bit when…it happens, but I've heard that the pain gives way to pleasure very quickly." He looks right into my eyes again. "When emotions are involved, sex is an amazing connection between two people. That's why it's called 'making love'. There's love and passion and romance, each wanting to complete the other. At least I think."

He added the last bit after a bit, and I realized something. Damon wants exactly the same thing that I do.

"Elena, what Klaus did to you was awful, but you can't let that experience ruin you. One day, you're going to find a man who will consume you with his love, one who will love you madly. And when you decide to make love with him, your love for him will intensify by millions. It will be amazing and beautiful and earth shattering for you both." Damon looked a little shocked about the speech he'd just made, and honestly, I was too. I'd never pegged him for a romantic, but now I could tell that he wanted love. The words he just told me were completely beautiful, and I felt like crying all over again just listening to him talk. God, if only he knew that it's him! He completely consumes me. I've been in love with him since I was thirteen, and I've never been interested in anyone else. Here I am at twenty four, and I've never kissed anyone I actually wanted to.

He interrupts my thoughts with a quick laugh. "Let's just pretend those mushy words never came out of my mouth."

"I thought it was beautiful."

His eyes soften for a moment, but soon, his walls are back up.

I continued when he didn't say anything. "Thanks Damon. For everything."

AN: Okay, recap time!

Elena is still in love with Damon as always, but the whole situation with Klaus has gotten her a little confused about what love is.

Damon is figuring out his feelings for Elena. He's in love with her, but he doesn't know that yet, because he's never experienced those emotions. He doesn't know what love feels like, and is therefore very confused about Elena.

There was a lot of reviews questioning Klaus's arrest. Yes, he was arrested, and he's in jail now. I didn't make that clear earlier, sorry about that.

So please leave review and let me know what you thought! Loved it? Hated it? Oh, and tell me what you'd like to see happen next!

Thank you all so much! xxx

Song: Battle Cry - Everybody Else