"Elena! Elena!"

She woke with a start to find she had been screaming. Damon was hovering above her nervously, his blue eyes worried.

"Damon! Oh, Damon!" she sobbed, clinging to his neck, drawing him closer to her.

"Elena, what's wrong?" he asked, pulling her up into his lap and brushing her tangled hair from her eyes.

"I… I had a nightmare… Stefan… he… he attacked you, and then he… he… he…!"

"Elena, calm down!" Damon said; she was getting hysterical.

"Oh, Damon! He killed you, and then he attacked me!"

Damon's blue eyes darkened with an emotion Elena was unsure of; she couldn't tell if it was sympathy, worry, love, fury, or a combination of them all.

Either way, Damon had never looked at her quite like that before.

"Elena, listen to me."

He lifted her chin so she would look at him through her tears.

"No one, and I mean no one, is going to hurt you while I'm around."

He gave her a small grin.

"I also certainly don't plan on being slain by my little brother."

She buried her face in his shirt, indulging in him just being alive, and that it was only a dream.

"Don't ever leave me like that." She whispered, her voice thick with emotion. "Promise me."

He tucked her hair behind her ear.

"I promise, Elena."

She nodded, snuggling back into his arms again.

"Damon?" she asked cautiously, staring at the wall.

"Mmm?" he asked, his face buried in her hair.

"I… I…"

"Yes, princess?" he asked, grinning.

She met his eyes, and the sarcasm in his face fell away at the intensity in her eyes.

"I love you, Damon."

Damon's blue eyes widened in shock. Had Elena just… proclaimed her love… to him?

"Are you sure I'm not dreaming now?" he asked.

She placed a soft kiss on his lips, pulling away after a few seconds.

"Did you feel that?"

His eyes were hungry.

"Absolutely." He said, and she kissed him again, letting him respond this time.

Damon had kissed Katherine countless times back in 1864, and he had always thought that kissing Elena would be the same. But it wasn't.

It was a million times kissing Katherine.

He felt like every fiber of his being was on fire, especially where her body was touching his. He thought his heart was going to beat out of his stone hard chest, and continue to flutter on the ground before him. He thought that, perhaps, Stefan had killed him, and he had died, again, and somehow managed to go to heaven.

Kissing Katherine had never had that effect on him, and he had thought he was in love with her for 145 years.

Elena pulled away, gasping for breath.

"Did… did you feel that?" she gasped, her eyes wide.

"Like I was going to burn to ash at any second?"

Elena nodded.

Damon grinned, falling onto his back on the bed beside her.

"Hell yes."

Elena was frowning now, though, looking thoroughly confused.

"Didn't you find it… odd?"

Damon frowned, turning his head to look at her.

"Odd?" he asked, a bit snippy.

Elena's eyes widened in shock.

"Oh, no! No, I didn't mean it in a bad way."

She pressed her lips to his again once more to reassure him, and then quickly pulled away; it was as if kissing Damon sent an electric shock through her body.

"What is that?" she asked.

Damon rolled over on top of her and brushed her hair out of her face.

"I don't know. But, I wouldn't necessarily say it feels bad."

Elena nodded in agreement.

"That's kind of my point. I've never gotten that feeling from kissing anyone before now."

Damon slowly nodded in agreement.

"Neither have I."

Elena frowned.

"Not even when you kissed Katherine?"

Damon scoffed.

"Kissing Katherine was nothing compared to kissing you."

"But… shouldn't it feel the same? We're basically identical…"

Damon shook his head.

"Elena, you may look like her, but you are not Katherine. You will never be Katherine. Even if you turned into a vampire and became a raving bitch, you could still never be Katherine."

He grinned and stroked her cheek tenderly.

"There's something about you that Katherine could never have."

Elena raised an eyebrow, but she was grinning.

"Oh? And what's that?"

Damon smiled.

"Purity." He kissed her cheek lovingly.

"Kindness." He kissed her other cheek.

"A generous soul," he kissed her forehead and met her eyes.

"And a beautiful heart that I can only dream of having a place in."

Elena smiled softly and stroked his cheek.

"You already do have a place in my heart."

He smiled and kissed her lips again, gently, feeling the fire under his skin burning pleasurably.

Elena wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him back just as gently, the fire enveloping her, as well.

Then, there was a knock on the door below.

Damon hastily pulled away and glared over at the electric clock.

"Who the hell would be knocking on someone's door at three a.m.?"

Elena suddenly looked very afraid.

"Damon; Bryce said the family who lives here is on vacation. Wouldn't anyone coming to see them know they weren't home?"

Damon's lips curled back in a snarl.

"Damon," Elena whimpered, clinging tightly to him.

He turned his gaze back to her, and his eyes softened.

"No one is going to hurt you." He promised her, stroking her hair and kissing her lips again.

Another, more demanding knock sounded and Damon pulled away, hissing profanities under his breath as he stood up.

Elena followed in pursuit, clinging tightly to his arm.

They reached the door and Damon glanced through the peep hole.

He rolled his eyes and flung the door open.

"You sold us out, you moron?"

Damon was yelling at Bryce over the shoulder of Elizabeth, who was glaring at him viciously.

"I told you to leave." She hissed, tossing a death glare at Elena over Damon's shoulder.

Damon took a protective step in front of her and glared at Elizabeth.

"Give us a break, Elizabeth. We'll be out of your hair tomorrow."

He attempted to shut the door and Elizabeth threw her hand out, denting the wood.

"I don't think so! You are leaving right now!"

Damon glared at Bryce, standing behind Elizabeth.

"Why do you let her push you around like this? You clearly don't have any problem with us staying here, seeing as though you showed us the damn house!"

Bryce grimaced apologetically.

"It wasn't my fault; she knew you were here. I didn't tell her anything-"

"Elizabeth, please," Elena plead, peaking around Damon's arm. "I know what you're going through; Klaus is after me, too-"

"Shut up!" Elizabeth roared at a startling pitch. "Just shut up! You should be dead right now! If you had died like you should have in the sacrifice, then you wouldn't be here right now, and Klaus wouldn't be this much closer to finding me! Now, get out of my town, you selfish little bitch…!"

Damon moved at a startling speed, smacking Elizabeth across the face with such force that she flew into the stone wall bordering the porch.

Bryce snarled at Damon.

"Don't you touch her, Damon, or I swear I'll-"

"Or you'll what? You'll hide behind her, like you always do, and hope she's a decent fighter?"

Bryce lunged forward and Damon threw him aside, too.

He towered over them both menacingly, his fangs extended.

"Don't forget that I'm older than both of you two combined, and I could rip you apart right now if I wanted to."

He gave Elizabeth's leg a kick for emphasis, and Bryce growled in anger, lunging forward. But, instead of going for Damon, he flew at Elena, yanking her head to the side by her hair and sinking his fangs into her throat.

Elena gave an agonized scream and Damon flew forward, ripping him off and tossing him into a wall.

He snapped a leg off of a hall table and, without blinking an eye, plunged it into Bryce's heart.

His eyes widened in shock, and then his body mummified, and he was gone.

Elizabeth gave an agonized sob, shaking her head.

"No… no, Damon, oh no…" she bawled, crawling forward to Bryce's corpse.

Elena was horrified by what she had just witnessed. It was like her dream being played out before her eyes, but with different characters. Elizabeth took her place, Bryce taking Damon's, and…

Damon taking Stefan's.

She shook her head and ran up the stairs, and Damon quickly looked up to see her disappear into the bedroom.

He then realized the awful, compulsive mistake he had made.

Kicking the wall in frustration, he ran up the stairs and into the room, where he found Elena, her neck still bleeding, sobbing on the bed.

"Oh, no… Elena, I…"

"How could you do that, Damon?" she gasped, her watery brown eyes meeting his.

"Elena, he was going to kill you…"

"She loved him, Stefan!"

Damon's eyes widened, as did Elena's, and she bit down on her lip, burying her face in the pillows, continuing to sob.

"Elena, I'm sorry…"

"Sorry won't change your actions, Damon. Sorry won't fix the heart you just staked, or the one you broke."

Damon bit his lip, started to say something, and then shut his mouth again.

She was right.

He walked out of the room and closed the door, sinking down the wall in the hallway.

He could hear Elizabeth sobbing below, and buried his face in his hands.

The combination of Elizabeth's and Elena's whimpering was nearly too much for him. He was nearing his breaking point, and it wouldn't end well if he reached it.

Suddenly, it was quiet below, and he looked up in confusion.

Elizabeth was standing in front of him, her eyes red, but not from bloodlust. From crying.

"Damon, I…"

He shook his head and put his face on his knees.

"I'm sorry." She choked out.

He looked up in confusion.

"You're sorry? What do you have to be sorry for? I just staked your boyfriend. I'm the one who should be apologizing…"

Elizabeth shook her head and sat beside him.

"He attacked the dop- Elena." She met his eyes. "I know why you did it. I… understand."

Damon couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"You understand? How?"

She let out a shaky sigh.

"I would have, or at least tried, to do the same if someone attacked Bryce. He had no right to go at her like that…"

"No, he didn't." Damon said bitterly, glancing at the closed door that separated him from Elena. How had they gone from kissing each other drunk to… this?

Elizabeth took his hand.

"I want to help you. You can stay here as long as you need to protect her. Because… I know he would have done the same if it were me."

Her eyes glanced toward the stairs, and she stood up.

"I'm going to… take him."

Damon nodded.

"Elizabeth?" he asked as she neared the stairs.

She turned her head.

"Yes?"

"I really am sorry about… what I did."

"Coming from him, that means a lot."

Damon looked up to find Elena standing in the doorway, her eyes rimmed in red, but no tears left on her face.

He quickly stood up.

"Elena-" he started.

She shook her head and put up her hand.

His face fell, and he turned back to Elizabeth.

"Stop by the diner tomorrow, rather, later this morning if you want breakfast."

Elena nodded.

"Thank you, Elizabeth. This means so much to me."

Elizabeth nodded and, with vampiric speed, picked up Bryce and was gone with a slam of the door.

Damon glanced nervously at Elena, and she stared back.

"Why do you do things like that, Damon? Don't you ever think of how your actions impact other people?"

Damon's mouth clenched into a firm line, and he glared down at the floor.

"You don't understand, Elena."

"What don't I understand, Damon? Explain it to me, please! Please, fill me in on why you killed someone you told me was your friend!"

"He was a threat to you, Elena! He was going to kill you! As soon as he attacked you, our friendship was forgotten. All I could think about was protecting you, and when I have my mind set on something, I act more rashly than I should. But I couldn't just throw him aside and risk him lunging at you again, or at me! If he had hurt you more than he had, I would have gone crazy! I may have ended up killing everyone in sight…!"

Elena silenced him by quickly walking forward and kissing his mouth mid-sentence, snaking her arms around his neck.

He felt his body flare up and pushed her into the wall, kissing her back passionately.

She wrapped her legs around his waist and an electric shock flew through his entire body, seeming to heighten his craving. For the moment, he felt like blood would never be a necessity for him ever again. The only thing he would ever crave from that moment on was Elena's touch, her mouth on his, her fingers running through his hair.

He rushed with vampiric speed into the bedroom, lying her down and kissing her neck, feeling his fangs extend.

Typically, with any other girl, this would have been the point in time when he would sink his fangs into their throat, feeling their warm life essence spilling into his mouth and into his veins.

But all he wanted was more of Elena. To feel her heat beneath him, her mouth moving furiously beneath his own, rapidly unbuttoning his black shirt.

"Wait." He said, pulling away very unwillingly.

"What?" she asked, her chest rising and falling quickly in a way that was driving Damon closer and closer at a very rapid pace to the brink of insanity.

"Elena… why are we doing this?"

She frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"You… you don't really want me. You want him."

Elena held his bare shoulders, her eyes searching around in his.

"Damon… Stefan is a different person now. There's always the possibility that he'll never come back, and even if he does, he'll still be high on human blood… Damon, he's never going to be the man I fell in love with ever again."

Damon shook his head.

"Yes, he will, Elena. I promised you…"

"Well, what if I don't want you to keep that promise? What if I just want you to kiss me, to prove to me that you love me as much as you say you do?"

Torn, he stroked her hair.

"Elena… I want you to want me because you feel the same way I do, not because you're looking for a replacement until my brother comes back to you."

Elena glared.

"Damon, I just said…!"

"I know what you just said! But it doesn't matter, Elena! As soon as the compulsion breaks, he's going to be the same, brooding old Stefan he was, and you're going to run into his arms like it never happened! Like he never hurt you, or the people you love. You won't even care that it will hurt me, because all you'll see is Stefan. All anyone ever sees is Stefan."

He stood up and walked out of the room, and Elena sat up, her expression a mingle of hurt, anger, and confusion.

"Damon," she called.

When the only response she got to her call was the sound of the cork popping out of a wine bottle below, she glared.

"Damon!" she yelled, storming down the stairs after him.

When she entered the kitchen she found him downing a tall, black bottle of red wine.

He put it on the counter and stared at the floor, misery plain on his face.

"Damon, we need to talk. We have to figure out where our relationship stands…"

"We don't have a relationship, Elena!" he said, his eyes beginning to blur in a drunken way already. He took another miserable swig.

"In order for us to have a 'relationship', you would have to feel the same way I feel about you. You would only feel it for me if we had a relationship, and you wouldn't go running to my brother as soon as he's all better!"

He took another deep chug, and then tossed the empty bottle aside.

It shattered, sending sharp glass shards all over the kitchen floor.

"Damon, you aren't being fair. You won't even listen to me…!"

"What's there to listen to, Elena? You're in love with my brother. I will never be my brother. End of story."

She shook her head.

"I know that you will never be Stefan. But I love you for who you are, Damon! And, for all I know, you could still just be fooling around with my emotions because I look like Katherine! It's always been Katherine, hasn't it? I'm just her replacement to you…"

"No." Damon shook his head, his eyes looking a bit afraid. "No, Elena, you know that isn't true. I told you it isn't true so many times…"

"And I've told you that you aren't my replacement for Stefan, but would you listen to me?"

Damon opened his mouth, and then shut it again, looking down.

"I'm sorry that I can't be what he is to you…"

Elena stormed up to him, grabbing his face and kissing him forcefully, ignoring his pathetic, drunken objections.

"I don't want you to be Stefan!" she cried when she pulled away.

He looked away and she pulled his face back so that he had to look at her.

"Damon, look at me! Listen to me!"

He looked at her miserably.

"I don't want you to be Stefan. I want you to be you. Because I didn't just fall in love with Stefan; I fell in love with you, too! I'm still falling in love with you, and you've been treating me so much better than he does… Damon, the way you love me is different than the way he loves me. You love me with all of your heart, and I know that you do. But, I always feel like Stefan is holding back a piece of himself, because he's ashamed of what he is! But you're not!"

Damon looked confused.

"But… you always chose him before Klaus came…"

Elena looked ashamed.

"Damon, I know that you're right. Deep down in the deepest part of my heart, I know that you're right; I don't know what I want. But I do know that you aren't just some substitute for Stefan. You mean so much more than that to me. Why do you refused to accept that?"

Damon stroked her hair.

"I'm sorry, Elena. I'm so, so sorry…"

He cut himself off by kissing her, and she kissed him back, placing her hands on his muscled bare chest.

He laced his fingers in her hair, holding her head against his lips. Normally this was a kneejerk reaction, so that she wouldn't be able to pull away.

But he was fairly certain that wasn't going to be an issue this time.

Sweeping her into his arms, he carried her back upstairs without breaking the kiss.