Wow! You guys are great! Thank you for your feedback. I enjoyed the varied reactions to the last chapter. So, here it is, the morning after.

The next morning arrived with Jenna knocking on my door holding two cups from Starbucks which she promptly set on the coffee table before wrapping me in a hug.

"I don't know what happened but based on the huddled mass of raven haired despair that spent the night on my couch, I figured it called for a coffee delivery."

"Damon's at your place?" I breathed in relief as we sat on the couch. I had been concerned about his leaving last night. If anyone knew how dangerous it was to drive when they were upset, it was me.

"Yep. When he left here, he sent a text to Ric who was at my house. Next thing I know, I'm reading some Grisham while Ric is helping Damon polish off a bottle of bourbon," Jenna explained.

"Is he OK?"

"If you consider facing the mother of all hangovers 'being OK', then, yes, he is just peachy."

"It's my fault," I whimpered.

"What happened? I thought you guys were supposed to be having a movie night with Caroline and Klaus."

"We were. Caroline happened," I huffed.

"Oh no, what do you mean 'Caroline happened'? I thought she was open to giving Damon a chance."

"I did too. I don't know what started it. I was finishing popping the popcorn and came out of the kitchen to hear them going at it. Oh, Jenna, so much came out last night, I don't have any idea where to begin," I groaned.

"Just talk me through it. Maybe it will help you."

"Nothing will help, Jenna. I've screwed it up big time. Correction. I screwed it up big time ten years ago."

"How? Talk to me, Elena." Jenna patiently squeezed my shoulder.

"First of all, Caroline told him about my wreck which I never wanted him to know. I didn't want him to know just how much of a mess he left behind."

"OK, that's not what you wanted but it's probably for the best if this relationship is ever going to have a chance. What else happened?" Jenna urged me on.

"Well, apparently Damon didn't walk away quite as easily as I thought he did," I explained. "It turns out, he kept trying to contact me through Caroline for several years. Eventually, he figured out where I was living and showed up on my doorstep while I wasn't home only to have Caroline tell him that I was in a relationship and that he should go away and not try to contact me."

"What? How dare she? That was not her decision! And, what relationship? I didn't think you had been involved with anyone on a regular basis since Damon left!" burst Jenna.

"I know and I wasn't. Care thought she was protecting me but she was out of line. I plan on telling her so when I get to talk to her. I have a feeling I should probably wait a few days so that I don't throttle her though!"

"That may be wise. If you need a referee, I can be there," offered Jenna. "Why do I feel like there's more to the story?"

"Because there is. You know how I've always told you he broke my heart and broke my trust but I've never been able to handle talking about why?" Jenna nods encouraging me to go on before taking a sip of her coffee. "I thought my roommate was pregnant with Damon's baby."

Jenna sputters almost spitting her coffee. "He got your roommate pregnant? I'm going home and kicking his sorry gorgeous ass off of my couch! Screw the hangover!"

"Wait, Jenna, I said I thought he got her pregnant. Turns out I was wrong."

"Wrong? Are you sure? How could you have been so certain only to end up being wrong?" Jenna asks cautiously, still in mama bear mode.

"I came home to find a lacrosse jersey on her bed. It had 'Salvatore' across the back. And there was pregnancy test there too."

"OK, I can see how that would make him look guilty. It's not like his last name is Smith. How did she get his lacrosse jersey?" asked Jenna.

"She didn't. It was his brother's. They met when Stefan came to visit Damon and it seems they had a secret relationship going that only became public knowledge when she got pregnant." I take a deep breath. "Jenna, I wasted so much of our time by jumping to a conclusion. I almost died because of it. And, now, I've lost Damon because of it."

Jenna raised an eyebrow. "I'm guessing that Caroline spilled the whole story last night?"

"You would be guessing right. Damon was devastated." I feel tears in my eyes. "I could tell he was so hurt. I had such a hard time believing that he could want me. I had no self-confidence when we were together before. Every girl on campus wanted him and he had quite the reputation for loving them and leaving them. Oh, Jenna, if you had seen the look on his face you would know why I say I've lost him. It's like I proved to him that I never believed in us—that I agreed with everyone's opinion of him as a player." I laid my head against the back of the sofa and let the tears fall from my eyes. "I just got him back. When he walked back in my life it was the last thing I wanted but now I'm scared to death that he's gone again. I don't know if I can survive losing him again," I cried in earnest now.

"You haven't lost him," soothed Jenna. "You didn't see the mess that showed up on my doorstep last night. He looked so lost. Elena, you've got to talk to him. I love you but you didn't give him the opportunity to talk it out before you left the first time. You owe it to him now."

"I know. I just don't know where to start."

Jenna chuckled. "Well, first of all, you start by taking a shower. You look like hell! Ric was going to wake up Damon and force feed him bacon to ease the hangover. Give them a few hours then I say you show up on his doorstep and extend the olive branch."

~~~~~TVD~~~~~TVD~~~~~TVD~~~~~

Two hours later, I grabbed my purse and opened my door just as Damon had his hand raised to knock on it.

"Hi," I breathed as I leaned my head against the door.

"Hey," he answered.

We both stood and stared at each other unsure of what our next move should be. Finally, I opened the door wider and motioned him inside.

"Come on in before my neighbors think you're a door to door encyclopedia salesman," I said.

"They don't make encyclopedias anymore, Elena," he shyly smiled.

"All the more reason why they would be concerned," I countered as he walked past me and into the living room. "Damon, I don't even know where to begin. I really fucked things up didn't I?"

"Yes, Elena, you did. If you had just talked to me about it, we could have had ten years together," he said sadly.

"I'm so sorry. Actually, I feel like I need to apologize for even saying that I'm sorry. That is so inadequate. There are not words to tell you how much regret I have right now."

"Elena, I'm not here to argue with you but I do have to ask. Did it never for one minute cross your mind that I loved you too much to betray you—that I would never cheat on you?" His expression is pained. "Did you have so low of an opinion of me?"

"Damon, you need to understand that I had that low of an opinion of myself! I never understood why you would want me because I thought I was not worthy of a guy like you. So, no, when I found the incriminating evidence on her bed, it was not such a big leap in my brain that you would grow bored of me and move on to someone more appealing."

"You were so wrong. Why in God's name would I want Rebecca when I had you? I always did tell you that your lack of self-confidence was dangerous. I just didn't realize that it was endangering our future—that it was endangering your future! My God, Lena, you almost died! Do you know how I felt when Caroline said that? It scared the life out of me. Last night at Jenna's that was all I could think about. When I finally passed out I kept having dreams about you, lifeless, while I tried to wake you," he choked to a halt before grabbing me and engulfing me in a hug and placing a kiss on my temple. "The only way I survived those ten years without you was by holding on to the thought that I would eventually find you again. The idea of living my life without you…" he huskily trailed off.

"But now I've ruined it. You'll never be able to look at me the same way again," I tearfully responded.

"Oh, Lena, you don't know how wrong you are. You haven't ruined anything. Do we need to make sure we talk things out in the future? Definitely. Am I rethinking the idea of inviting you to have dinner at my brother's next week? Umm…" he trails off with a chuckle.

"Oh no! That is going to be beyond awkward," I groan.

"I guess I could claim to have an imaginary friend as my girlfriend and avoid that all together," he dramatically sighs.

"Not funny," I pout. "What are we going to do about that?"

"Well, considering neither Stefan nor Bex know that you thought I had, how did Caroline put it? Knocked her up? They never need to know. This is our thing to deal with and other than guilt by association, it doesn't involve them." He reaches out and trails his fingers through my hair.

"I don't know what I'm going to do about Caroline." I shake my head and look to him for guidance.

"Well, I, for one, am going to thank her."

"Thank her? Are you mad?" I am dumbfounded.

"Mad about you," he smirks before playfully kissing me. "Was it her place to do this? No. Could she have done it better? Of course. But, Lena, she just ripped off the proverbial band aid for us. Who knows how long it would've taken and how many walls we would've built if she hadn't said what she did last night," he explained.

"I'm still angry. Damon, you tried to contact me for years. You came to find me! And she lied to you and basically shoved you out of my life. I don't know how to get past that. I know I told her not to tell you where I was just before the wreck but years later?" I shake my head.

"Well, sure, that pisses me off but I'm more thankful for our getting past last night and all of the secrets. So, since I stormed out of here last night, does that count as an argument?" He raises one eyebrow and gives me a questioning look.

"Damon, I honestly didn't think I'd ever see you again after the way you looked at me. Call it anything you want."

"Then I'm calling it an argument. Know why?" He smirks.

"Why?" I ask, puzzled by his bemusement.

"Because that means we get to kiss and make up," he answers.

I can't help the smile that spreads across my face. "You want to kiss and make up, huh?"

"Absofuckinglutely," he says just before his lips crash into mine.

AN: So, is that the end of the story for Delena? Not hardly! Is everything really going to be brushed under the rug? What do you think! But they are taking the first steps to work through this. I hope to update again in the next couple days. Thank you again for reading, reviewing, "favoriting" and following.