I am SO sorry this took forever to upload. I was in Texas visiting my family all week last week, so I never had time to just sit and write.
But THANK YOU for all your kind reviews. They made me so happy and I really do love reading all of them. I can't thank you guys enough.
Enjoy chapter 12!
June 2006
He woke up to pounding. For a moment he thought it was someone at his door, but he soon realized it was his head. The copious amounts of alcohol he consumed were now hitting him like a freight train. He couldn't- for the life of him- remember what set him off on a binge the night before. He knew it had to be something painful, so he tried to push it from his mind for as long as possible.
He stumbled through his loft until he finally found himself in the bathroom. As much as he was dying for a warm shower, he knew that it would do nothing for the massive hangover he was harboring. Cold showers were never associated with anything good.
He let the cold water jolt awake his senses and clear his foggy mind. As he stood there, the events and pain from the night before fought their way out of repression. He loved Elena. He went to tell Elena. He found Elena cheating on him. He loved her and this is what she did to him.
The feeling of hopelessness came over him. He swore he'd never fall in love because it only hurt him and the people he felt it for. He refused to ever be that weak and vulnerable ever again. Then Elena came along and challenged all of that. She was feisty, passionate, illegally beautiful, and she never took any of his shit. Sometimes it felt like she was made for him. She was his equal in every way. She could challenge him in ways no one else ever had. As much as he fought it, he fell in love with her. He tried to avoid it, not think about it, but he knew it was inevitable. How could a man not fall for her?
He pulled himself from the shower and let his mind bury the pain again. He knew it wouldn't ever help, but he wanted to avoid it for just a little while longer. He got himself dressed and padded into his kitchen when he heard a tentative knock on his door. He sighed to himself, knowing who was on the other side of the door.
He tried to take as long as possible to make it to the door, but he couldn't put off the inevitable. He swung the door open and with one look at her he knew he couldn't do it. Not today. She looked just as miserable as he felt. Her eyes were dull and lifeless; there were purple bags under them that she tried to cover. So he took the easy way out and started closing the door. But she was faster and she moved so she could block the door from closing.
"Damon, stop," she said. He had expected her voice to sound as exhausted as she looked, but that wasn't the case.
"I have nothing to say to you," he tried to sound indifferent as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"Good, so you can listen 'cause I have plenty to say to you," she said, her voice still carrying a strong tone. He prepared himself for the dismissal, the 'I can't do this anymore, Damon'. He knew it was coming.
"What you saw was an absolute pig putting his hands on me and kissing me without my permission. I would never go back to Matt, ever. He did horrible things to me and more than that, I have you," she elaborated. He didn't know what to think. He had been so ready for the let down, that he'd never considered that maybe he was wrong. The fact that he misjudged her didn't sit well with him.
"I know what I saw, Elena," he said pathetically. He knew how puny he sounded and he hated it. It was his last defense.
"You think you know, but you have to trust me," she said, taking a step closer to him. Her eyes were swimming with emotion. Trust. That was not an easy thing to get from the great Damon Salvatore.
"Why should I trust you?" He asked. He wasn't sure where his education ran off to because he was standing there sounding no better than a hurt child.
"Because I'm in love with you, Damon," she exploded. He was shocked into silence. That was never something he considered. Not in the past 18 hours, not even in their entire relationship.
"You are?" He asked, disbelief coloring his tone.
"Yeah, I am," she smiled and his heart decided to take over for his brain. He couldn't believe the words. Never had he considered that she would love him back.
"I love you, too," he said. And for once in his life he felt like he had been freed by love. It was not something that was pulling him down, drowning him in a dark stormy sea of the unknown. It made him excited.
He felt alive.
Present Day
It was a slow day at Mystic Falls General Hospital. Elena was working in the ER and there were only the run-of-the-mill stomach ailments, an ovarian cyst, and one finger slammed in a car door. It was a pretty uneventful day.
She was finally heading down to the cafeteria for her break, she couldn't believe how slow the day was going.
"Elena!" She heard her name called. She perked up right away since she only heard 'Dr. Gilbert' in the walls of the hospital.
She turned just in time to see a mass of blonde hair catapulting at her. The blonde crashed into her with more force than she would've guessed. She felt arms wrap tightly around her, further crushing her into the small woman.
"Can't… breathe," she barely got out, her lungs were slowly losing all oxygen and she was being held so tight that she couldn't get anymore in her.
After a few more squeaks of excitement, the woman finally let her go and took a step back. Elena couldn't believe who she saw in front of her.
"Caroline?" She exclaimed. She was shocked to say the least. Never in a million years would she have imagined seeing Caroline again. Especially after everyone left once Giuseppe's funeral was over.
"Miss me?" She smiled.
"I was going to see you at Giuseppe's funeral, but something came up," Elena said. It was a sad excuse and she knew it.
"I know, believe me, I know all about it," Caroline said with a smile, "C'mon, let's go some place we can talk."
Elena led her to the cafeteria and they settled into a booth in the far corner. The cafeteria was mostly empty anyway.
"So, should I start at the beginning?" Elena asked.
"No, I pretty much know the whole story," Caroline replied.
"You do?" Elena questioned.
"Well, yeah. Damon is my brother-in-law after all. And if he doesn't tell me, he tells Stefan everything, who then tells me," she smiled proudly, "Now what we need to do is figure out what happens now."
"I've been trying to figure that out for days, but he's getting married next Saturday. There's nothing more I can do. I just have to let him go," Elena said sadly. She had decided it was just time to give him up. She knew he wasn't hers. She made sure of that when she took Giuseppe's offer all those years ago.
"What happened to you?" Caroline asked quietly, "You used to fight for everything. You fought to get through school, you fought against everything Giuseppe threw at you, and you fought for Damon. You can't just give up."
"Caroline, I lost him. I lose. He's not mine and he hasn't been since I walked out on him five years ago," Elena said with tears forming in her eyes.
"You can't think like that. What Giuseppe did to you was wretched. He was hardly a human being. He would've done everything he could to make sure you stayed away from his son. There was nothing you could do. But you can now. You can fight for him, you are the only one who would ever be able to stop him from marrying that awful bitch," Caroline said passionately.
"He chose her over me. There's nothing else I can do, Care," Elena said deflated. She had given up. She wasn't going to fight for someone who didn't want to be won. It would only hurt and she wasn't sure how much more hurt she could take in one lifetime.
"You didn't see Damon after you left. He has fought for you ever since. The fact that he caved in so easily around you just shows that he's not done fighting. He thinks he is doing the right thing marrying her. Now it's your turn to fight for him. You have to fight for him, Elena! Or you're going to lose him forever and I don't think either of you can handle that," Caroline said. She could always put up a convincing argument for almost anything. Elena used to always say that she should run for President.
"If I did fight for him, how would I even do it? He's all the way in New York," Elena said. The small amount of hope that swelled in her chest during Caroline's speech was now totally diminished.
"That is why I bought two returning tickets to New York," Caroline smiled mischievously. She looked way too pleased with herself.
"You really thought you could sway me that easily?" Elena laughed.
"No, but I knew I could if Damon was involved," She said with a wink.
He made a choice. There was no going back now. The whole time it had taken him to get there he was at a constant back and forth in his mind. The long trip had done nothing to calm his thoughts. He hated hurting people and he hated that no matter what he chose someone got hurt, but it was inevitable. He had to make a choice and now he did.
He had never been forced to choose between what was right and what his heart wanted. His heart was usually on par with what he thought was right. But this time it was split right down the middle.
He was downright in love with Elena. She was his perfect match in every way. Even now, five years later, she could still set his senses on fire with just one look. Even after so many years apart, he still had every inch of her memorized, the sound of her laughter still made him smile, the smell of her still turned him on, and the taste of her still drove him wild. He didn't know how he had lived without her all those years.
He loved Katherine, too. It had taken him a very long time to get to that point, but he did. She made him crazy at times and she was hard to keep up with, but she was sexy as hell and she knew what she wanted and how to get it.
He raised his hand to knock on her door. He felt nervous. It had been ages since he had ever been nervous before. But here he was, waiting at her front door for his life to forever change, and his palms were sweaty and his heart was pounding.
She opened the door and looked surprised to see him. He knew she wasn't expecting him to show up.
"I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have run off on you. Not like that," he explained in a rush. He was trying to do whatever he could to keep her from closing that door.
"It's ok," she said softly, with a small smile.
"I love you, Kat," he said with finality. She was his choice.
"I love you, too," she smiled as she pulled him into her loft.
He pressed his body against hers as their lips met. He shut the door behind him and moved her further into her home. She made short work of ridding him of his shirt and he quickly did the same.
He spent his night with her, indulging himself in the woman he was going to marry. Whispering empty 'I love you's into her skin and the whole time pushing away the sinking feeling in his heart that there was someone else he was meant to marry.
Wow I'm already at 81 reviews. You guys are amazing. Hey, let's see if we can get to 100 with this chapter. That would seriously blow my mind and make my life.
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