Title: Love's Fool

Summary: Elena made her choice and Damon kept up his end of the deal. He left Mystic Falls more than a year ago and he hasn't looked back since. Now the Original stake has gone missing and suddenly they need him again. But Damon has no intention of playing their whipping boy anymore and this time he has a powerful ally on his side.

Spoilers: Everything through the S3 finale.

Pairings: Delena is the plan but you never know. I'm not the biggest Elena fan at the moment.

Disclaimer: If I owned Vampire Diaries there would be a lot less of Damon getting left to die heartbroken and alone. As it is, I can only hope to vent my frustration by punishing those characters responsible.

Note: Not sure how I feel about this one. It was a strange chapter to write. I wanted to do the buildup justice, but I didn't want to take things too far too fast. I will be interested to see how you guys react to it. Please let me know what you think. Happy early 4th to those of you from the US!

Chapter Eight

Damon watched as Elena's pupils dilated and a whimper escaped her throat. She shuddered. "I can't do this right now, Damon. Please. I have to calm down."

Damon scoffed but refused to back down. She was having problems thinking clearly? Well, so the fuck was he! There she was prancing around in nothing but his shirt. Did she have any idea how easy it would be to throw her down on that girly bed, spread her legs and fuck her until she couldn't remember anything but his name?

Damon shook himself. "You think I'm afraid of a baby vamp? I can handle your temper, Elena. Your bitch face may scare your annoying little friends and Saint Stefan, but I can give back anything you can dish out. I'm the bad guy, remember?"

He watched her swallow and bite that pouty bottom lip. He wanted to suck it into his mouth. In his head Damon could still hear her growling at Bonnie in his defense. His dick hardened further just thinking about it. He wanted to close his eyes and imagine her expression in the kitchen…to see it for himself. He wanted to drag her down the stairs and fuck her in the living room so Judgey could watch. Every instinct inside him was screaming for him to claim her as his.

His control had been hanging by a fucking thread as he sat outside in that tree like a damn creeper and listened to every word they said. He told himself she was Stefan's, she'd chosen Stefan, it would ALWAYS be Stefan, but then she had to strut her happy ass into the room and pull on HIS shirt. What the fuck did she expect? She'd be lucky if there was enough left to identify when he was through with her. He was going to devour her.

Elena jerked her head from side to side. She gasped for breath and blood flooded the whites of her eyes. "Not the bad guy," Elena struggled to speak, "and that's not what I mean." She moaned and arched her body against him as if she couldn't help herself. Her canines descended and she panted around them. "I have…like no impulse control when I'm like this, Damon. I can't control myself."

Damon threw back his head and laughed and it was a bitter sound. His eyes darkened to match hers and he felt a shiver wrack her body. Leaning forward, he pressed her into the wall with his own weight and bit back a groan at the feel of her glued against him. Cocking his head to the side, Damon brought his mouth to her ear. "Welcome to the club."

"Damon," she whimpered and bucked against him. She buried her hands in his hair and purred when he shuddered.

Damon moved one hand down and slid it underneath his shirt to rest on her bare ass. Savoring her gasp, he lifted her against him and wedged himself between her thighs. Elena wrapped them around his waist without thought and arched against him as she moaned. It was all he could do not to rip open his jeans and fuck her senseless. She felt so good pressed up to him rolling her hips against his rock hard dick. He wanted to feel her from the inside, wanted her throbbing around him like a hot wet glove.

Fighting for control, Damon lowered his mouth to her pulse. He wet the area first with his tongue, before nipping at her with his fangs. "Answer the question, Elena. Why are you wearing my shirt?"

Her hips jerked involuntarily at the contact and she rested her head against his neck breathing hard. "Needed to feel close to you," she said, "it helped."

He nipped at her again, harder this time. "You chose Stefan."

"I fucked up," Elena said. "I was a coward. I didn't want to lose anyone. I never thought you would leave me. I fucked up, Damon."

Damon pulled his head back far enough to lock his eyes on hers. "I had no reason to stay. Why should I stick around to watch that?"

"I know," Elena nodded. "You scared me, Damon. The way you made me feel wasn't something I could control. I was afraid of giving myself over to that." Her eyes glowed with sincerity and watered over as the blood faded away. "I was a coward and I took the easy way. I knew I could handle Stefan. His love was easy. Stefan didn't consume me. He didn't make me crazy."

Dropping her legs back to the floor, Damon ground his teeth and leaned his forehead against her. "And suddenly that's changed? I'm supposed to buy that?" He shook his head slowly back and forth. "No dice. I've played this game before, Elena. I'm the one who gets left to fight to the death with his best friend while you drive back to the pathetic asshole who let you choose to die."

"I fucked up."

"You have no idea how close it came, Elena," Damon smiled bitterly as he remembered that night. He could still feel the physical blows raining down, almost a relief, something to distract him from the gaping hole in the middle of his chest she'd left behind when she ripped out his heart. "You have no idea how close I came to letting Ric end me just because I didn't fucking care anymore. And who better to send me to hell than Ric?"

With a burst of strength and speed, Elena flipped their positions and suddenly Damon found himself pressed to the wall. Her game face back on Elena shook him hard pulling him back to the present. She growled at him. "I fucked up, Damon. I can't go back and change it, but I can own it. I can take responsibility for my actions and I can own up to the truth." She paused and loosened her grip on him, but stayed right in his personal space. "I chose wrong, Damon. I chose to be a coward and I paid the price. I lost you and it's killing me."

As he let her words sink in, Damon tried to control his reaction. Now that most of the lust had bled away and he was thinking clearly, he realized the stupid position he'd gotten himself into. Here he was inside her fucking room, having another soulful emotional conversation with the teenager who put his heart through a blender. He should have stayed in the damn tree. Despite his best efforts to freeze her out, Elena Gilbert still had his balls in a vice. A few pretty words and one fatal blast of those big doe eyes and he could feel his insides turning all mushy and gooey. Well fuck that shit.

Aiming to do some damage control, Damon cocked his head to the side and sneered. "You and Steffy will work it out. You always do."

Elena felt him pulling away from her and shoved his shoulder in a burst of anger. "I don't work without you, you asshole. I'm a fucking mess." At his lifted brow, she seethed. "And yes, I know I deserve it."

Damon smirked. "Just so we're clear." He could deal with her anger. They were practically old friends. Stepping to the side he walked toward her bed to give himself some distance. "I didn't come back here for this shit. I'm here for the stake."

Digging her fingernails into her palms, Elena crossed her arms over her chest and wrestled the monster back into its cage. When her human mask was back in place she threw him her most determined glare. Damon wondered if she thought she looked formidable with that stubborn expression. Someone needed to break it to her: formidable required pants. "I'm not giving up on you. I know you came back for the stake, but I'm not just letting you walk away again."

"Tell that to Epic Stefan."

"I'm done pretending, Damon," Elena told him. "I don't want to hurt Stefan, but I know what it's like to live without you now. I'd rather be consumed and out of control than bleeding internally with a smile painted on my face." She tilted her head to the side and a sad smile curved her lips. "I spend half my time out of control these days anyway."

Damon thought back to her attack on Stefan and the confrontation with Bonnie in the kitchen. He smirked. "It's a good look on you."

Elena grimaced and ran a hand through her hair. "I'm glad someone likes it. You might change your mind when it's directed at you."

Damon held up his hand and shook it side to side. "Shiver," he told her mockingly. He watched as Elena's eyes lit up in challenge and laughed out loud at the sight. She'd certainly turned into quite the little hellcat while he was gone. Still, "I'm not Steffy or Blondie, Elena. You're not a human anymore and I'm not going to handle you with kid gloves. I've got a hundred and fifty odd years of dirty street fighter on you. If you want your ass kicked, just let me know."

Elena's eyes twinkled and she took a slow seductive step toward him. "From what I remember, fighting with you was practically foreplay. I could always use the practice."

And the little tease was still standing there wearing nothing but his damn shirt. SO not fair. What had become of him? When had Damon Salvatore become the neutered loser who passed up this type of invitation? Watching the way her body moved under the scant fabric and the flashes of heaven as the shirt rode up her thighs, Damon felt lust burn in his guts even as he backed away from her. He threw her a warning glance and silently cussed himself for being completely domesticated. "You're dating Epic Stefan," he reminded her.

Elena bit her lip and backed up ashamed of herself. "You're right, I'm sorry."

"Same song, different verse," Damon muttered and rolled his eyes.

"Guys," a knock sounded on the door as Jeremy's voice carried to them, "the bat signal just went up. We need you down here."

As Elena seemed to be frozen staring at the wall, Damon answered him. "Give us five, Ghost Whisperer."

"Sure thing, dick," Jeremy said.

Damon could hear him whining about the new nickname as he walked away. The vampire smiled. He'd sorta missed the annoying cockblocker. Then he looked back at Elena.

Her expression was stricken. "How did he know you were here?"

Damon made a face. "His room's across the hall, Elena. Despite his years of hard work listening to massive amounts of eardrum-piercing shitty music, the kid's not deaf."

Her eyes widened. "Do you think he heard us?"

Damon's mouth twitched as his temper spiked. "Like I said, same song different verse." Elena realized how her question came across and opened her mouth to object to his interpretation. Damon wasn't in the mood. "Put on some pants."

Elena bit her tongue and let it pass. They didn't have time for another fight. She moved quickly to her closet and grabbed her jeans yanking them on. When she reached to pull off her shirt, Damon scoffed again. She turned to look back at him. "What?"

He nodded to the shirt, "you planning to give that back?"

Elena smirked at him. "Not in this lifetime." Without bothering to hide from his eyes she pulled the shirt over her head and tossed it on her bed. Elena walked to her dresser and dug out a bra as casually as she could manage under his intense scrutiny. Then she quickly clasped it and sped to the closet for another shirt. When she was finally dressed, she walked forward to stand in front of his stiff frame and smiled. "It's worn out anyway. I sleep in it every night. I'll buy you a new one if you want."

Damon hissed through his teeth at that visual. He took a step back, shook his head, and turned toward the door. "Let's just go see what Bitchy and Baby Gilbert want. Hopefully there's something to kill. I could really go for a spot of violence right now."

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