AN: Thank you so much for sticking with me! Please make sure you read my note at the end of the chapter as well!

Damon

Elena fell asleep a little while after our heart to heart. Which was pretty awkward to be honest. I mean, I meant what I said, but talking to Elena about sex was weird for both of us. Especially with these feelings that are popping up out of nowhere for me.

I felt so helpless when I was talking to her. I've never been in the situation that she was forced into and I didn't really know what to say, I just hope that it was enough. Her words flew through my head over and over, "dirty, used, ruined."

It wasn't true, none of it was. Elena was the exact opposite, bright, pure, and perfect. Just looking at her sleeping form is like gazing at a fucking angel. When she fell asleep, she was keeping a respectable distance between us, but now, she was pressed up against me, her head on my chest, and her hand resting dangerously low on my stomach. Just imagining that pretty little hand on me makes my pants uncomfortably tight. Not now Damon.

My mind if going crazy. I love what I have with Elena, I love being able to talk to her about anything, I love being her knight in shining armor. I love having someone who genuinely cares about me, I love having her around, I love making her laugh, I love her courage and her kindness. I love how real she is.

But on the other hand, I love her body. I love her lips, I love that soft hair, I love the way her hips sway when she walks. I love the way her skin feels, I love how little she is compared to me. I love how her body can turn me on with a look or a touch. I love how beautiful she is.

The problem is, it's impossible to have both. If I go for the friendship, sex is completely out of the question. If I go for the sex, the friendship goes out the window.

But, Elena has been my best friend since she was born. I'll never throw that away, no matter what I want at the time.

She nuzzles into my side a little more, and a soft moan escapes her mouth. A fucking moan, as if my pants weren't uncomfortable enough already. What the hell is she doing in that dream land of hers? I'm hoping it has something to do with me and her naked. Damon!

I've gotta calm down. At this rate, I'll ravage her without a second thought. In her sleep, her leg comes to wrap around one of mine, my thigh against her center. Jesus. I need to get out right now, before I do something extremely stupid.

Trying to untangle my body from Elena's, I go to move out of the bed, knowing she won't wake up. But she pulls me closer to her before I can go very far, surprising me. Her little body tightens, reminding me exactly how much I need to leave.

She opens her eyes, still drowsy with sleep. "Where're you going?"

I look down at the girl wrapped around me. I don't want to leave; I don't want to go anywhere. "I need a shower. We've been in this bed for…" I look at the clock. 2:00 AM. "Eighteen hours?" We'd left her office around noon, and went to sleep right after.

"Hmm." She murmured. "Can I come?" Her eyes were still closed, and her hand was moving lazily on my bicep. Can I come? God, if we got in the shower together…

I'm itching to touch her. Move, Damon, move.

I wiggled out of her embrace, instantly missing it. Once I was out of the bed, I could think straight again. Don't let her know what's going on in your head, act normal!

I laughed a bit. "Oh Elena, I know you want to see me naked."

She sat up instantly, all traces of closed eyes and sleepy mind gone. Embarrassed, she corrected her earlier words. "I meant after you."

I smirked at her, and moved into her bathroom, stripping and getting in the shower. Once I turned the water a little colder than I usually liked, I heard Elena call my name from the bedroom.

"Damon?"

I poked my head out of the shower curtain. "Yeah?"

"How did I get in these clothes?"

Shit. She's probably going to be mad that I basically undressed her without her knowledge. But if there's one thing I know about Elena, it's that she values the truth.

I cleared my throat. "Um, I didn't want you to have to wake up in the clothes that…it happened in." When I didn't hear her respond, I kept going. "I'm really sorry; I mean I didn't look at you or anything. I just wanted to help"

She didn't say anything.

Damnit, I ruined everything. I finished up quick in the shower, and dried myself off, wrapping a towel around my waist. Here we go.

I opened the door to see Elena sitting on the bed, dwarfed by my shirt. Her knees were pulled to her chest, and her arms were wrapped around her shins. When the bathroom door opened, she looked up, and her face was stained with tears. I rushed over to her, kneeling down in front of her body. "Lena, I'm so sorry! Please don't hate me; I was just trying to…" I was cut off by arms and legs wrapping around my torso. Elena hugged me so tight the breath was squeezed out of me.

"Thank you, Damon. Thank you. That was the sweetest thing that anyone has ever done for me. Thank you." Her breath was hot in my ear, and her legs were wrapped around my waist, but I couldn't even think about the physical effect she had on me. She'd just thanked me for something any other woman would've given me hell for. This girl is something.

She fell asleep in my arms at around three o'clock, freshly showered. However, she kept my old shirt on, sliding in next to me, smelling like strawberries and shampoo. I stretched my arm out, letting her fit perfectly into my embrace. We both fell asleep right away, safe in each other's arms.

I woke up in the morning comfortable and content. Elena was warm next to me, and I'd slept for an insane amount of time, making up for many recent sleepless nights. My very happy silence was interrupted by an incessant buzzing coming from Elena's bedside table. I picked up my phone and glared at the screen. Katherine.

Shit. I'd actually forgotten about her in the past day. Which is pretty much unacceptable, because she is my girlfriend.

Thankfully, Elena wasn't too tied up in me, and I extracted myself from her with ease. I looked at her sleeping form for a second, before I left the room to take Katherine's call.

"Where have you been!?" She screeched the second I picked up.

Geez. "Hello to you too."

"I don't even want to know where you were or what skank you were with." I was about to respond, but she cut me off. "You have tonight to make it up to me. And it better include an expensive dinner and amazing sex, or this relationship will not be working."

And with that, she hung up.

Okay then.

When I turned around, I saw Elena leaning against her bedroom door frame, staring at me.

"Who was that?"

I put my phone back into my pocket. "Katherine."

Her face paled a little. "Oh." When I didn't say anything, she continued. "It's around eight. Do you want to go into work late?"

"No, Lena. I'm staying with you." I wasn't about to leave her alone after the worst day of her life.

"Damon. You can't protect me all of the time. You were my savior yesterday and everything I needed last night, but I have to be able to push on alone. And you have to be able to continue with your life."

"But I want to stay with you. I want to help."

She walked up to me, and cradled my face in her hands. "You did help, you are helping. I just don't want to become dependent on you. I know that you'll be there whenever I need you, but right now, I need to be alone."

I understood what she was saying, I did. But I still didn't want to leave her.

"Damon. Go."

I pulled her into a hug, and buried my face in the crook of her neck. She smelled so good, and her hair was so soft. I didn't want to pull away, but I did. "You'll call me if you need anything?"

"Of course."

I traced her face with the pad of my thumb. She grabbed my hand and pulled it away from the warmth of her skin. "Go."

I had a bad feeling as I walked out of the door, making me think that leaving Elena wasn't going to end well.

Elena

I had to make Damon leave; if he had stayed I would've lost it, and spilled the secret that would ruin our friendship forever.

His tenderness almost surprised me. Damon's all about being manly and tough, but he's got a great heart under there. He's the kind of man that would jump in the water to pull out drowning cat or something. The kind of guy that would change my clothes in the middle of the night so I didn't have to wake up in the ones Klaus touched me in.

He changed my clothes. I looked under the collar of my shirt real quick. Good, I still had the same bra on from the night before. The bra that Klaus had put his hands all over, the one that he had squeezed my breasts through.

Shivers raced up my spine and I ripped the shirt over my head and clawed at my bra clasp, trying to get it off. I scratched my skin in the process of tearing the lace off of my chest. Get it off!

I threw the offensive thing on the floor and backed away from it, sliding down the nearest wall in only my underwear and sleep shorts. Crossing my arms over my bare chest, I walked back up the stairs and moved straight to the shower, shedding the underwear that Klaus had maimed with his fingers. I turned the water up as high as it would go, hoping the boiling temperature would scald his touch off of my skin. Klaus had touched me everywhere. His hands had slid over my bare legs, my stomach, my arms, my inner thighs.

I scrubbed harder, scouring my skin raw where it crawled with his touch. It was nearly thirty minutes later when I stepped out of the shower, my skin lobster red. I pulled on some fresh underwear, and went in search for a shirt. Finding nothing suitable, I remembered Damon's shirt laying on the floor ing my entryway. I tiptoed down the stairs in my underwear, and ran to grab the shirt off of the floor, putting it on, and letting the comfortable fabric skim my thighs.

The second the shirt was back on me, I felt safe again, like I was being engulfed by Damon. He made me feel fearless again, like I could take on anyone, like I could do anything. I felt beautiful and perfect. I felt unflawed, when I was surrounded by his scent and bombarded by images of his eyes. I felt brave.

I pushed back into my room and found some jeans, deciding to make my way over to Caroline's place to see how she was doing. Since she's moved here a little over a month ago, she resided in a cute little apartment right inside the city. I took the long way in order to avoid my office. I may be okay enough to drive, thanks to Damon, but I'm definitely not ready to see that place again. I'd only been to Caroline's place once before, and although I knew the building, the floor and the door number were very vague. After a lot of knocking and asking, I found number 409.

When the door opened, I saw two very confusing things at the same time. The first was Tyler Lockwood, and the second, was Caroline standing next to him, dressed only in a bathrobe.

Okay, what?

None of us moved for a second. Then Caroline glanced at Tyler, before addressing me. "Hey, Elena."

I started incredulously at both of them. Tyler looked like he was about to stretch out his hand, and then thought better of it, stuffing it back in his pants pocket. The same pants that he wore yesterday, which meant he'd spent the night. Well that helped explain Caroline's attire.

But she slept with a guy she barely knows right after she was raped? It doesn't add up, and neither of them are trying to explain the situation.

"So, what's going on here?"

Caroline giggled a little bit. "Oh my god! No! It's not like that! I didn't want to be alone, and he stayed with me."

I was confused. "Caroline. Didn't you just meet him yesterday?"

"Yeah, I did." She looked up at him. "But he was a perfect gentleman; I didn't want to go to sleep, so we stayed up all night and talked."

Tyler interjected. "Elena, I promise, I was just trying to be nice. I didn't want to leave your lovely friend here alone."

Caroline blushed a little bit when he said the word 'lovely'. Oh no.

But I remembered how sweet Tyler had been to both me and Caroline yesterday, taking care of us and Klaus. Caroline let him stay in her house after what happened, so she must have felt some sort of trust toward him.

Tyler looked at Caroline for affirmation, and then held the door open a little wider. "Would you like to come in?"

They looked like a married couple. I knew that Caroline got attached fast, but this was ridiculous.

Damon

I offered to pick Katherine up for our date, but she declined, telling me that she'd meet me at my favorite bar downtown. I slid into a stool and ordered bourbon, asking the kid behind the bar for Ric. Glancing around at the bar I'd felt at home in since I was 20, I waited for Ric, the owner, to come out from the back. He's a good friend, always has been, willing to help me pack in the booze and take home the girls. I knocked back my bourbon and thought about Elena. What have I turned into? An idiot that sits alone drinking and sobbing to thoughts of a girl? Thankfully, Ric moved into sight before my mind could dwell too much on my girl. My girl?

"Damon!" He called as he moved behind the bar. "Starting pretty early tonight, it's only five."

"I know I know. I'm waiting for Katherine."

Ric laughed and went to fill up my glass. "Ahh. The wicked bitch of the west."

"Hey, shut up. She isn't that bad."

He snorted. "Uh huh. Tell me one thing you like about her besides her body."

That was a tough one. I struggled for words, "Well…"

Ric just laughed when I couldn't come up with an answer.

I talked with Ric while I waited for Katherine to show up. He'd been married for three years now, and him and his wife, Jenna, were expecting their first baby. Ric's favorite thing to talk about was the baby, and all of our conversations ended with him acting as a proud father even though the baby was probably the size of a walnut. I couldn't imagine being a father right now. I needed the right girl and a good career and such before I could even think about something like that. Hell, I can barely take care of myself, let alone a baby. But I'd like it someday, I'll coach little league and go to soccer games and buy the golden retriever puppy all in due time.

Ric was telling me a story about Jenna attacking a sales person at Babies R' Us when I interrupted him. "How did you know that you wanted to marry Jenna?"

He looked a little surprised at my outburst, but he answered anyway. "I realized that I didn't want to be without her ever again, and I wanted to wake up to her every morning. I'm in love with her."

"Oh."

He looked a little suspicious. "Why did you ask?"

I didn't know how much information that I wanted to reveal. "I don't know. I guess I just don't get how you would want to sleep with one girl for the rest of your life. I mean I wouldn't want to marry any of the girls that I've slept with."

He gave me an incredulous look. "Damon, have you ever been in love?"

"No."

"Seriously? Never?"

"Nope."

He looked at me like I was crazy. "Well then you probably wouldn't understand."

"Tell me anyway."

I dropped the rag that he was using to wipe the counter.

"When you're in love, you are completely infatuated with the other person." He paused for a second. "I guess there's two parts to being in love, friendship and sex. If you're in love, you're best friends with your girl, she knows everything about you, and you know everything about her. You can share with each other and laugh easily, and you enjoy each other's company, you'd rather spend time with her over anyone else. And then there's the physical part. When you're in love, your girl is the most beautiful woman in the world. You don't even want to look at anyone else, because none of them can compare to her. You love touching her, and holding her hand. A brush of skin sends tingles through your body, and you have to restrain yourself from ripping her clothes off the second you see her. Sex with her is amazing, because the emotional connection mashes with the physical one."

He sighed a little bit. "I don't really know how to explain it to you Damon. You would protect her over everyone; kill anybody that tried to touch her. You want her to love you more than you want anything else. You start doing sappy things, like watching Titanic because she wants to. You put her needs above your own. She can take your breath away."

I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe. Everything that Ric had just told me clicked into place, everything that I'd been feeling finally made sense. I knew the answers to all of my questions, found the solutions to all of my problems. I finally made the connection.

I'm in love with Elena.

AN: AHH! So there we go! A couple of things that I think need to be addressed.

Damon is 25, and Elena is 24.

The characters aren't completely canon in this story. Elena is a lot less indecisive and Damon is a lot more timid emotionally. The Damon we know and love knows what he wants, and takes it. This Damon is alot more concerned with Elena's feelings toward him, and is a lot more insecure.

There we go! So I need to know what you guys thought! Tell me please! Loved it? Too sappy? What should happen next? Please leave me a review with your response!

Thank you so much!

Song: 23 - Jimmy Eat World