A/N: One upon a time, there was a girl who loved writing FanFiction, and was amazed out how many people seemed to like her random thoughts that come from nowhere. So, instead of just doing a one-shot like she originally planned, she thought that she would just continue you it and see where it goes from there. But she would also like you to know that she is also writing many other stories, and this story might not have such frequent updates. Wow…I am such a dork…

Mistaken Observations: We Just Might Have Something In Common

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Elena hadn't realized it at the time, but when she decided to tell Damon about her little tattoo- the microscopic portrait of Piglet from Winnie The Pooh on the very small of her back- she had started a silent, raging war.

If the tattoo was anywhere else, well, maybe not anywhere else, she would have been happy to oblige, and just show Damon the damned thing. After all, he had shown her his little wicked marking, and it would have been only polite to return the favor.

But the tattoo was placed just so on her back that it mischievously dipped into the back of her jeans. And why she wanted a picture of Piglet on her butt was completely beyond her. In her defense, she was 99.9% sure that she was drunk during the time. She never really remembered ever getting one. And that was a little scary.

It made her feel like she was almost…comparable to Damon. And in case she wasn't clear on it before, it was not a decent thing to welcome.

When Damon had told her about the history behind his tattoo, it caused her to be mad, sad, happy, and a little dumbfounded all at the same time.

She was mad because it seemed like he was using something so dear to him- his mother's dress pattern she died in- just for another way to attract women. She was sad because, even though he was Damon, she still thought it was nice for him to get something to remember her by. She didn't really know why she was happy- she wasn't going to dwell on it too much- but it probably fell along the lines of Damon showing his softer side.

And she was dumbfounded because Damon really seemed to screw with her mind sometimes. He made her feel one thing, and then another emotion seemed to quickly follow. She couldn't be content without being agitated, and she couldn't be somber without wanting to burst from the joy in the pit of her stomach.

This also meant that she couldn't feel hate…without love.

She basically just had a bad case of being severely conflicted.

And it was here- sitting on the very edge of his bed and her sanity, and waiting for Damon to get out of the shower- where she felt every single sensation of hate, love, passion, disgust, and even a hint of lust.

It was here where she decided it was time to get some answers. She was putting her foot down right at this very moment.

The door knob before her jiggled and swung open. Damon didn't seem to notice her at first, he was too busy adjusting the dark towel wrapped haphazardly around his waist, but when he did take notice of her, he simply stopped in his tracks.

"You really do like catching me in a state of undress, don't you?" He smiled, winked at her, and then made his way over to the dark brown door of his closet.

It wasn't like Elena was purposely trying to catch Damon in all his glory. The odds were against her, and it just seemed that every time she had something to say to him…he just popped up half naked.

Maybe he had planned this…

She sighed. She just wanted to be done with this. "Cut the crap, Damon. I want answers."

Damon turned to her, looking casually over his shoulder. The water drops made a slow path down his back. "When don't you, little Miss. Fast-And-Furious?"

This made her narrow her eyes even harder. "What's your angle, Damon? What are you trying to play at?"

"Whatever do you mean?"

God, she now knew it was no coincidence that his name closely resembled 'demon.'

"I'm talking about how one minute you are all on board with the 'Let's save Stefan!' train, and then the next minute you turn around and act like you don't give a shit. Don't you want your brother back?"

There was no audible response from Damon. He only shook his dark head gradually, not even turning to look at her.

"Don't have the balls to say anything anymore? Well, there's no surprise there."

There were little sirens going off in her head, telling her to shut the hell up before he kicked her sorry ass out the door.

This time, when he did turn to her, there was a frosty appearance about his face, as if all the made up heat had suddenly left. There was no 'Damon Charm' left in his eyes. His mouth was pulled down around the edges, creating an oddly heartbreaking frown.

She was about to apologize, and blame all of what she said on her increasing stress, when he brazenly interrupted her.

"Just get out, Elena." he said

There was no command in his tone. Infect, it almost seemed like he posted it as a question. That was strange.

Damon didn't ask questions. He knew the answers to everything, as far as she could tell. He was usually the one answering the questions.

"Just please, leave."

Damon didn't beg either. Was she being set-up here? Was this another one of his jokes? She didn't believe what was coming out of Damon's sweet talking mouth.

She casually leant down further in his bed, settling herself so he could show that she was not going anywhere at any time in the near future.

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what's up. Why are you acting this way, Damon?"

The fact that she was in this position only a couple of weeks ago to witness a very secret part of Damon, was not lost on her. She knew what she was getting herself into. She was poking the viper.

From the corner of her eye, she could see Damon roll his shoulders like he was marching out to war. He looked ready for a nasty fight. She hoped it wouldn't come to that.

"I want him back, Elena." he rubbed his eyes with long, pale fingers. "But then add the fact that I have no clue where he is, or whether he wants to really come home or not, and you just get no hope at all. Absolutely nothing. And it also doesn't help that you just go strutting around with 'secret' tattoos, acting like it is the most natural thing in the world to drive me practically insane. Maybe it is natural to you. You sure seem to do it a lot."

Elena closed her eyes, thinking that if she did so it would stop the words from entering her ears. No such luck. She still heard them, unfortunately.

This was probably the first time Damon had actually come to terms with the fact that maybe they liked each other a little more than was considered appropriate. Well, maybe he had noticed it before, but he sure had never said anything to her.

They had never even talked about his 'death bed kiss.' They were in the awkward stage of denial where neither person wanted to say something first, afraid that they would assume too far. He didn't want to assume too far.

"I don't meant to," she spoke quietly, "I really don't."

Her eyes were still nailed shut, but that didn't stop her from knowing that Damon had just laid down next to her. When she quickly opened only one of her eyes, she saw that instead of the towel around his hips, there was a dark pair of jeans. He wore no shirt.

"I think we should talk about it," he said after a couple pauses of silence.

In her mind, Elena did a sort of victory dance. Damon wanted to talk about his feelings! At least, she expected it to be that conversation.

"I think we should, too."

Damon took a deep breath beside her, and she could just imagine him almost shifting uncomfortably. She always thought that 'flustered' was a sentiment he didn't do.

Under his voice there was a shake of nervousness. "You love my brother."

Even though it wasn't a question, she still nodded her head to the space above her. "I do."

Damon really shouldn't have felt an abnormal pain in his stomach from her words. He knew they loved each other, more than anything in the world, if that was possible. He saw the physical evidence. He also did have a bedroom right across from Stefan. It was hell at night. So, there was no real reason it should have felt like Elena was taking her small hand, plunging it through his chest, and ripping his heart out.

There was no reason, but he still felt it.

"Then why did you do it?" Damon looked over to here. He noted that she still had her eyes closed.

It was the golden question, though. Why did she do it? What was she feeling at the moment?

Scared, terrified, lonely? Shocked to know that someone she cared about was dying a slow, painful death? Amazed that someone as strong as Damon had the ability to feel such great physical pain?

Elena had never been one to watch such a tortured animal suffer. And that is why she did it.

She wasn't trying to act like she pitied him. She wanted to know if his lips were as soft as they looked. She wanted to know what she could have possibly missed out on after he was gone. She wanted to know what he was feeling.

She wanted to know Damon.

She didn't say any of these things, though. Instead, she just settled on, "I don't know, Damon. All I know is that I wasn't doing it because I felt sorry for you." She turned her body towards him.

His eyes were clearly focused on her, his mouth set in a disbelieving scowl.

"I don't believe you. You always have been a horrible liar."

To be honest, she didn't expect him to buy the story anyway. She internally sighed. This little talk wasn't going to be as easy as she thought.

If it was one thing she knew about Damon, it was that he never made anything easy.

This time, she decided it was best just to go with the truth. "I know."

Damon managed a smile. "I thought we were always supposed to be honest with each other."

Elena never remembered agreeing to anything like that, but she didn't say anything against it. Damon was trying to work things out, and she did have to give him some props for that.

Before speaking again, Elena briefly looked over to his window. It was a wonderful day outside. She should have been out there, catching up with friends and strolling through the parks. Instead, she was caught between a rock and a vampire, and neither was very generous.

Damon was still looking at her, carefully waiting her out. Sometimes Elena thought he would delay until the end of time if he truly wanted something.

She shook her head slowly, trying to get rid of the annoying buzz in her ear. "I don't know what you want me to say, Damon."

Damon looked at the ceiling. He would have liked her to admit her undying love for him, or propose that she wanted him- body and mind. He would have liked at least something. Anything.

Her silence was much worse that the hurtful words she could lash out towards him. Her silence was deafening.

"Can you just do me a favor?" He asked, propping himself up on his elbows.

Elena sat up with him, looking down at her hands, the floor, and then back to her twitching fingers. She didn't really like promising favors. Especially to people like Damon. It was ten shades of idiotic.

"I guess."

She didn't look at Damon- couldn't look at him- but she still felt the smirk radiating of him all the same. Typical Damon and all his complacency.

"When I steal Stefan back from Klause, I want you to promise me that things between us will not change."

Elena looked at him, confused.

"I want to make sure that we'll still stay…friends," he laughed, "If that's even what we are. I don't want you shying away from me just because Stefan will be back, and you feel guilty about kissing me."

The derisible elephant in the room let out a vast roar. It had to be said out loud sometime.

"And what makes you so sure that you can get Stefan back…or that he even will be eager to come back with you? And what about Klause? Are you just going to walk up to him, go, 'Hey, you know what? I think I want my brother back,' and then leave? Even you aren't that gullible, Damon."

Damon only responded with short, clipped words, his cerulean eyes piercing into her.

"I am going to get him back, Elena."

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The rest of the weekend had consisted of little sideways glances exchanged by her and Damon- she made sure not to look at him when he was watching, but she had a feeling that Damon could still feel her eyes on his back- and their talks were painfully awkward to the highest extent. There 'confession' speech had done more bad than it had good.

So much for the 'it will be great for you to get this off your chest' pep-talk she had given herself weeks prior to their conversation.

What a load of bull.

Basically, she had just convinced herself that the more she avoided Damon, the more she could get done. Damon, it seemed, was just a distraction for her. He was the constant road-block in her life, keeping herself from getting what she really wanted.

She just hadn't counted on the thing she really wanted in life…to want nothing to do with her.

There was nowhere to go on beyond here. She had no more plans, no ideas, or schemes that would help her get on with this predicament. She was stuck.

That left her with only one thing to do. Sit on a couch and mope. She was getting quite good at it, actually. It was better than having failed after failed attempt of your dumb plans blow up in your face. She would much rather just suffer this way. It was less painful.

"If you think any harder, your brain just might implode. I can practically hear those gears shifting in that pretty little head of yours."

Great. Just who she needed to see in order to complete her wonderful day of brooding and self-torture.

Elena pressed herself deeper into the soft leather of the couch, managing to repress her gutsful sigh, but not her dramatic eye-roll. She kept her eyes firmly away from him, looking everywhere else but that handsome face.

"What? You decided to talk to me now?" Her voice came out a lot more needy and deplorable than she intended it to be. She shifted uncomfortably.

Damon walked around the couch, plopping down next to her with a light grunt.

"You wanna know what the funny thing is?"

"Not really."

His eyebrows creased together. "Well, that's too bad. I'm going to tell you anyway."

Damon turned to her, placing his thumb and forefinger on her chin, gripping, and then pulling softy until she had no choice but to look at him. She could have fought it, but what would be the point in that?

He smiled flippantly when they made eye-contact. "I think that you have been avoiding me."

Well, no shit. Of course she had been avoiding him. It wasn't just like he was conveniently never around while she was around. She was purposely trying to dodge him. She figured that the more she did this, the easier things would become.

So far, it wasn't working.

She smiled sweetly over to him, trying to calm her breathing. He looked exceptionally good this morning, - not that she noticed- dressed in a light V-neck shirt, and dark wash jeans. His hair was still lightly damp from his shower. Elena tried not to note how he smelled like Stefan, especially near his neck and the white patch of skin that showed through the top of his low-cut shirt. The light coming from the window hit him at just an angle that made his eyes twinkle with something resembling mischief.

Elena looked at him closely, trying to figure why he reminded her so much of Stefan.

She started at the tips of his very black hair, and then to his deep-set eyes below dark arched eyebrows. The slope of his nose connected to perfectly rounded lips, the dimples near them making themselves present when he did something as simple as grimace. His sharply defined jaw was evenly pale despite the present 5 o'clock shadow he was sporting today. Her gaze moved down to the smooth expanse of his throat where she would never see his pulse jump, and then to the hallow in his throat where his collarbone made its appearance beside it. The rest of his slim, compact body was hidden by form-fitting clothes. That didn't stop her from remembering his beautifully angst-filled tattoo on his practically bare body.

Any person would have to be blind to not see how perfect he was…Physically, at least. Emotionally was just another story.

Suddenly, it hit her. She was reminded so much of Stefan when she looked at Damon not because of the physical resemblance (they looked nothing alike) but because of her feelings for both of them.

No, she did not believe she loved Damon, but she did know that she had something towards him that was more than just friendly. She both cared about Damon and Stefan in equal manner. She wouldn't be able to go on if either of them died. If either of them was hurt because of her, then the guilt would forever be locked away in the deepest parts of her mind.

Her whole word had now revolved around both brothers. She was trying to save one from the evil vampire/werewolf clutches of Klause, and was trying to save Damon from himself. He was, in essence, his own worst enemy.

"I haven't been avoiding you, Damon. Obviously, you just read into things too easily."

Damon shook his head; an all-knowing smile perched on his lips she had just been taking memo of earlier. "I know when someone's dodging me, Elena. I've had a lot of experience with that over the years. Now, we are going to properly talk about things. So, strap in. This might be a bumpy ride."

Before Elena could even protest, Damon had cleared his throat, looking like he was about to make a very important, very informational dialog.

"I get it, Elena. I get that you love Stefan, and basically want nothing to do with me, and I just had to make things more complicated by almost dying and saying that I love you."

There was that damn elephant again.

"But you need to get your head out of the clouds. We kissed, Elena! What am I supposed to make out of that? Where you sorry for me, or something? Because that is basically the vibe I am getting from you. You were willing to sit with me as I died, and you just have to guts to hide away from me? I thought we were closer than that. I think it would just be better for you to say you pity me, and just get on with it."

Elena shook her head. He had this all wrong! "I don't pity you, Da-"

"This would just go a lot easier if you just agreed with what I said," he interrupted.

Too stunned to do anything else, Elena just nodded weakly. The sun was hitting her body, but she just felt cold.

He continued, the words rushing out. "I know you don't love me. You probably never will, and it most likely makes you sick to your stomach to hear that I love you…But I do. I didn't say it that night because I was delusional or half crazy. I said it because you needed to know it if I did happen to die."

Elena swallowed harshly, barely noticing how the back of her throat was closing up. She tried to look away from his painfully honest gaze, but he pulled her face back to him, before ghosting his hand against the base of her throat. He could probably feel her fleeting, throbbing pulse.

She wasn't ready for this. She wasn't ready to hear what she had been denying for so long.

"And I haven't been completely honest with you, either."

God, she just wished he would stop talking. She couldn't take any more of this. It was torture.

"But maybe I should tell you about that sometime later. I mean, you still have failed to show me that little tattoo of yours. Apparently I'm not the only one with little moral value when it comes to the body."

He stood, leaving her just shy of being completely breathless. She was going to get whiplash from his constant mood swings.

Damon glanced at Elena one last time before he made his escape. He would have hated to admit it to anyone else, but he felt almost embarrassed. Elena always just seemed to have that effect on him.

He was sure that, if he were human of course, there would have been blood boiling beneath his cheeks.

He took one step…and then he was gone, disappearing to nowhere visible as far as Elena could see.

He had disappeared.

Just like he always did.

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When Elena had laid down to go to bed that night, she noticed that sleeping in Stefan's room just felt wrong. It was quite obvious that he wanted nothing to do with her, and yet she was still sleeping in his bed like some love-sick teenager?

Well, she was a love-sick teenager. She didn't have any excuses besides that.

This could have partially given the reason to why she suddenly decided to catapult out of Stefan's bed and look at it with a high degree of disgust.

But, it did not describe why she had the fleeting urge to go sleep in Damon's room. Maybe it was because she was lonely in this big house, and Damon just happened to be the only…un-living…person within miles of this place.

Yes, she would go with that. That was a valid enough reason. She was simply lonely and Damon could help with that. He wouldn't mind the company, right?

Elena clutched her hands closer to her body, chattering her teeth lightly. With one last shameful look back behind her, she made her way out of Stefan's room and across the hall.

Damon's door was shut, but not locked when she came to it. She almost contemplated whether she wanted to knock or not, but seeing how it was very late at night, she just decided that Damon was already sleeping.

And she was right. When she had pushed open Damon's big oak door, she came to find an extremely at ease looking Damon, breathing gently and lying on his back.

Despite how well she knew Damon and all his qualities, she still found herself smiling. But she did catch herself however, when she started to make her way towards the giant bed.

She wasn't actually going to get in there was she? No.

Looking around, she found a couch that looked comfortable enough, and implanted herself on that instead.

The own sound of her steady heart beat and her and Damon's breathing in tandem caused her to be gently lulled further into sleep.

Her last thought before she did get pulled into her own dreams deeply concerned her.

Why did she stop herself from sleeping in Damon's bed?

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A/N: Oh, God. They seriously just need to jump each other's bones already! On another note; how awesome was last night's episode? I adored the Damon/Caroline fighting, even if it was for the wrong reasons. Damon can just be such a heartless dick sometimes! Doesn't he realize that he will NEVER get the girl by acting that way? And 'killing' Alaric? That's just cold. And am I the only one who thinks Klause is a cutie-pie? I was always a sucker for the bad ones…I am also totally digging the Caroline/Tyler pairing, the Anna return, and the bad-boy Stefan. He got A LOT hotter just because he now likes ripping out people's throats alongside with another sexy vampire. And if there is any more sexual tension between Elena and Damon…then I might just have to contact the writers of the show. They. Just. Need. To. Kiss. Already!

Well, enough of my play-by-play. Feel free to review at the end. And I am very sorry if this chapter was boring and dumb to you guys. I had a very hard time writing this. It was probably due to the fact that it was just supposed to be a one-show in the first place. Oopps…And do you guys even know how hard it is for a 14 year old to type a story when she is supposed to be doing her Algebra homework? Talk about multi-tasking…