Chapter 2 - When it's real you can't walk away

Songs : Head over heels - Digital Daggers

All I need - Within Temptation

It was pouring rain outside, but Elena didn't notice until she felt the harsh and cold water hitting her body when she ran out of the Salvatore's house. She pushed herself forward, trying to run away from what she saw in his room. She laughed cruelly at herself, cursing herself for being so naïve. How stupid it was for her to stay up all night, thinking about his words, thinking about him, about Stefan, crying her heart out at her own unbearable emotion and the trapped situation that she was in between the two of them, one she loved and one she was in love with without noticing.

"Elena!"

Her face slammed into his hard body as he appeared in front of her, holding his hands out to keep her balance on her feet.

"Elena, what are you doing here?" He shouted to drown the sound of heavy rain around them.

Elena was grateful it was raining because she didn't want him to see her tears. She pushed him aside and started to run again when she felt his arms around her and in a second they were standing in the house again, dripping water to the carpet.

"Elena, talk to me." He lifted her chin up so she looked at him.

"There's nothing I want to talk about." She said, her voice shaky, her whole body trembling from the cold and anger and from his touch.

" Then why are you here?" Damon leaned down so his eyes met hers, his frowns knitted, his eyes searching for an answer. It could not be. He didn't dare to keep his hopes up.

"I'm here for Stefan." She said, looking away from his face, lied bluntly.

"Of course." Damon immediately drew his hands back from her, stood up straight and stepped back. "You need dry clothes." He said, this time, his voice was detached, his face was clear from any visible emotion, the mask was back on.

"I'll find some in his room." Elena said and left, walking up stairs, hurried to wipe away tears on her cheeks.

"Look at you! Toying with my boys." Elena turned around and frowned when she saw Katherine was leaning against Stefan's open door, looking at her.

"Leave me alone." Elena stepped forward, trying to slam the door shut, suddenly feeling the rage rising inside of her when she remembered the image of Katherine and Damon in his room earlier.

Katherine pushed the door open with one hand, stepped into the room. "Well, at least you won't have them both worshipping at your altar, not any more." She picked up a photo of Stefan and Elena on his desk, chuckled disgustingly.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Get out please." Elena crossed her arms in front of her chest, shaking as the wet clothes sticking to her skin, sending cold chills down her body.

"You didn't know." Katherine turned around to look at her, an obvious amusement on her face. "Then I guess you're not that important after all." She giggled and left the table, heading to the door. "Damon's leaving." She leaned in and purred into Elena's ears. "and he's not coming back." She finished the sentence and left the room. "At least not in your lifetime." Her voice shot back from the hallway.

Elena rushed into his room, her eyes darting around frantically looking for him.

"Damon!" She shouted around, feeling her heart itched up in her chest when she saw the packed suitcases on his bed.

"You should really learn to knock." Damon walked slowly towards her from his bathroom.

"You couldn't even bother to tell me you're leaving?" She asked furiously.

"I'm telling you now." He walked to his bed, stuffed something else in the bag. "I'm leaving." He turned around to look at her, his face didn't show any emotion.

"I had enough of this bullshit." She threw herself at him, gritted her teeth while throwing punches on his chest.

Damon kept her wrist in place when she was trying to slap him. "I wouldn't want to do that." His eyes darkened, his grip tightened around her wrist.

"Of course it's always about what you want. Right Damon? You want to leave, so you leave. You want to tell me, so you told me. It's all about you, right? You are the most selfish person I've ever seen." Elena was panting, she couldn't care less about the pain on her wrist. She was so angry.

"That is not news." He let go of her hands and lifted his suitcase, heading for the door. "And you won't have to see me any more."

"Are you leaving with her?"

"Who?"

"Katherine. Are you leaving with Katherine?" Elena clenched her fists on her side.

"No. What are you…."

"You came here for her. It makes sense you are now leaving with her." Elena was then talking to herself more than to him. "Then why? Why did you tell me what you said last night? Was it some sick game you play? Was it a lie?" Tears started to stream down her face.

Damon threw the bags on the floor, stepped up and took her face in his hands, wiping away her tears with his thumbs. "It was not a lie."

"And that's why you slept with her right after that?" She snorted.

"I love you, Elena." He sighed and looked into her eyes, this time the mask was gone, the hurt and sadness was shining through his eyes, pouring into her. "But I know it will always be Stefan. It was. It has always been. And I can't stand around watching the girl I love loving my brother again. I can't do it again, Elena."

Elena looked into his eyes, she tilted her face to a side so her cheeks pressed into his palm, she reached her hands up and threw it around his neck, tears rolling through her eyes. "Maybe this time you won't have to." And she leaned in to kiss him.

Damon froze in place for a second, couldn't believe what was happening. He felt her fingers curled around locks of his hair on the back of his neck, her soft lips crushed on his, her sweet scent wrapped around his body. Then he responded to the kiss, for a moment forgot where they were, who they were or what they were doing. The only thing he was capable of was tasting, feeling and shivering under her touch. They deepened the kiss, tongue dancing with tongue, releasing all the restrained emotion that were held back for a way too long time. When Elena finally pulled out, gasping for air. He looked patiently at her, studying her face with his arms draped loosely around her waist, waiting and preparing for any sign of regret from her. She looked up at him, sighed when she knew exactly what he was waiting for by the look in his blue eyes. She reached up, stroked his cheeks and pressed her lips against his in a quick kiss to reassure him.

"Don't go. Don't leave me." She threw her arms around his body, hugged him tightly and closer to her, resting her head on his strong chest. "Give me time to figure this out. With Stefan. With you. But stay." She held him tighter and sighed in relief when she felt his arms wrapped around her in return, his lips on the top of her head.

"I will. As long as you want me to be here. I will." He whispered in her hair.

"How are you feeling?" Stefan stroked her cheeks as Elena snuggled deeper into her pillows.

"Not really well." Her voice was raspy, her head was pounding and her whole body was aching.

"I know. It turned into a flu." He bent down to kiss her forehead, chuckled when he felt her burning hot skin under his lips. "You just need a lot of rest and you'll be fine."

She was in bed for 3 days since she was caught in the rain and walking around for hours in her wet clothes. What seemed to be a harmless cold at first had turned into a painful flu.

"Are you sure you don't want me to stay?" Stefan asked, his eyes looked up at her hopefully.

"No. You've been here all day. You need some rest too." She told him gently, trying to comfort him. She hadn't had the chance to talk to him about anything yet. And it was killing her with guilt and shame having to lie to Stefan, having to respond to his kisses, his touch, his embraces knowing her heart and mind was somewhere else.

"Ok." Stefan smiled, kissed her cheeks softly. "Call me if you need me. I'll be here in second."

"I know." She smiled back at him.

"Good night." He placed a kiss on her dry lips, she didn't move, silently accepted his kiss without response. "I love you." He said casually, looking into her eyes.

"Good night." She smiled back at him, trying to hold back the tears that was coming to her eyes, but couldn't bring herself to say the words back.

Stefan seemed to not notice or mind anything, stood up, keeping his eyes on her until he reached the door and walked out.

Elena sighed when the door closed, letting the tears rolled and soaked her pillows, feeling even more exhausted and tired than she was before. In some way she was glad she got sick, because it gave her the time to think about how she was gonna solve the situation she was in. Yet, she still couldn't find a way. Stefan was still there, with her, loving and caring as ever. Every time she tried, the look in his eyes, the gentle patience on his face, the loving in his touch stopped her, it made her feel like she was the worst person to ever live. She knew if the words came out of her mouth, the happiness and joy on his face would disappear, the lights in his eyes would go away like every time he told her about his history, his regrets, his guilt, his sadness. And she didn't want to be one of the reason to bring that to him.

"Hey."

Elena opened her eyes, looked down to the end of her bed to see a pair of bright blue eyes staring back at her. He didn't move, just looked at her with his understanding eyes. A familiar relaxing waves washed over her body, just like it always did when she finally got to see him in the end of the day for the last few days.

"Hey." She wiped the tears away, shifted to her side and patted the side of her bed next to her. "Come here."

Damon kicked off his shoes and climbed under the cover with her. She scooted closer until she could threw her arm over his body, wrapped her legs around his, and laid her head on his chest. She sighed, happy and relief to feel his arms tightened around her, holding her close.

"You're burning." He chuckled, rubbing her back and pulled the cover higher, tucked around her body, made sure she wasn't cold.

"Yeah. I'm really tired." She sighed, snuggled closer to him, her palms running over his cool skin. "Can you take your shirt off?" She looked up at him, running her hands on his arms.

Damon sat up and pulled his shirt off and lied back down, waiting for her to shift and nestled back on to his body. She sighed when she was able to press her feverish body against his skin again. She inhaled his scent, letting it fill her senses. Suddenly she caught something more, something that was not him. She sat up and sniffed the crook of his neck before glaring at him.

"What?" Damon looked at her, throwing his hands up, confused and alarmed.

"Why am I smelling Katherine on you?"

"What does she smell like?"

"Did you sleep with her again?" She started to feel her tears again, and she just wanted to lie down because sitting up like that made her felt dizzy and tired.

"No." Damon chuckled, understood her sudden rage. He tried to pull her back down in his arms but she refused his touch. "She's staying at the house. I ran into her before I came here. She was just … being Katherine. But no. I didn't sleep with her." He rolled his eyes, talking slowly words by words.

Elena still glared at him, slightly pouted. Damon chuckled again, amused a little by the situation but didn't put up a smirk fearing it would just make her madder. He pulled her down, wrapping her in his arms again, relief when she didn't protest. When he finally had her burning hot body in his arms again, he kissed her forehead and took her hand in his.

"You're cute when you're jealous." He smiled

"I'm not jealous." She murmured in his chest. "I don't have the right to." She sighed sadly.

"You have every right to." He kissed her skin again.

"I'm sorry." She said quietly. "I never want to be like this. I don't want to be like Katherine. I don't want to get in between you and Stefan like she did."

"I know." He rubbed her back, trying to take the heat away from her, pressing his bare upper body closer to her. "We'll deal with everything when you get better."

"I hate this flu." She pouted

"You know what will help the fever?"

"What?" She looked up

"Sex." He grinned at her.

"Pervert!" She slapped his chest playfully but sighed happily when he went down and found her lips with his.

She dragged her hands up his back, feeling every inch of skin and muscles she went through until her finger found his dark hair and tugging on them gently, pulling him closer. Her body started to response to him like it always did. Tingles running on all over her skin, her heart was pounding in her chest, every part of her body screaming, demanded contact with his, her tongue roamed in his mouth, tasting and exploring every part it could. When she needed air, he trailed the kiss down, kissing and licking at her neck, carefully scraping his bare teeth on her skin, sending shivers down her body. When Damon placed his lips in between her breast and Elena felt the hot wetness in between her legs, which were wrapped tightly around his waist. She slightly and hesitantly placed her hands on his shoulder, stopping him. She panted heavily, trying her best to stop him while every cells in her body screaming in protest, craving for his touch.

She looked down to his eyes, trying not to get lost in the blue ocean or his luscious lips, plumbed from kisses.

"I don't want this for us when I'm still with Stefan. I want you. But you deserve me when I'm completely yours. Not now." She said softly, stroking his flushed cheeks with her thumbs.

"Sure." He smiled back at her and she knew why she was there, she would do everything for this, to see the lights in his beautiful eyes, to see the joy on his perfect curves lips, to see his angelic face relax and soft with love, that was for her and to her only to see.

"I love you." She placed a kiss on his lips, pulled back and stared into his eyes, pouring her heart out for him to see.

"I love you too." He smiled again, hugged her tightly.

Elena shifted on her side, finding her place against the cozy nest he provided, letting her arms, hands and legs found its place on his body. When she finally tangled with him again, feeling safe, warm and happy than ever, she peacefully dozed off into her sleep.

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