So this is random, but if you take a look on my profile, you can see a future story that I have explained up there that I really want to write and hope to publish soon. It's a TVD AU/AH story based off of The Count of Monte Cristo (Damon/OC, of course). I just want to ask you all real quick and I would so appreciate it if you could tell me in a review: would any of you read it if I publish it? It's a concern of mine that no one would really get the storyline so if you could tell me, that would be fantastic.

Disclaimer: Chapter 1, please :)

Do You Remember the First Time?

And there he was, standing right in front of me, all picturesque and whatnot with his deep blue eyes and his dark hair, right as if he'd stepped out of a magazine catalog. That wasn't a biased statement—now that was just a fact. But there I was, a naïve newborn vamp staring at a man she didn't remember loving but knew that she loved him, absolutely and utterly at a loss for words. When nothing escaped my lips, Damon tried his.

"Okay," he started nervously, tacking on a small smile, "I'll start. I know Alaric 'Eternal Sunshined' our relationship out of your brain, but please...please tell me it's coming back." I stayed silent, staring blankly, wondering why it was so hard to form words. "Or, at least, part of it because...imagining this exact moment is what got me through the last few months."

I opened my mouth carefully, and watched as he anxiously awaited my words. I was afraid he'd find them more disappointing than he'd hoped. "I'm...not exactly sure what you'd like me to say here, so—"

To my surprise, Damon stepped forward and grasped my hands in his immediately before I had the chance to react. I looked down at them and listened to him in confusion as he begged, "Just say that you missed me as much as I missed you."

"But I can't say that." I looked up at him, into that deep abyss of blue that I had grown accustomed to, but never cared about. All the other girls could—my sister, even, could succumb to his beauty—but I didn't remember having any part of it. Besides, out of all the girls in the world, it seemed quite strange why he'd pick me. "Because I didn't. Or...because I don't remember it. Telling you what you want to hear would be a complete lie."

I stepped back, and I watched him as he flinched from the cold air hitting his hands as I stepped out of his grasp. He looked at me with hope gleaming in his eyes, whatever of it was left.

"I know how you must feel right now." Tentatively, he took a step forward, but I stepped away from him. He saw me move back, and therefore sighed in frustration. "Madeline, this isn't the first time you've forgotten me. If you would just let me—"

"I haven't forgotten you, Damon. I remember who you are." The words came out colder than I thought they would, but once they were out, I couldn't take them back. Damon stared quietly, waiting for me to finish my thought as it rolled off my tongue. "I remember everything that you did, don't mistake that. When I came out of that alternate reality, I didn't remember anyone. I thought this was all some...some cheesy vampire television show!"

"But you found a way to love me again," Damon reminded me. I shut my eyes and took in a deep breath, slightly overwhelmed. When I opened my eyes, it was too late for me to step back when he reached me and brushed a piece of hair out of my eyes and was standing so close I could feel his breath on my neck. I waited, silently, while I let my head spin all it needed to. "Just trust me. Please. I can get us through this, even though it might not be the exact same. You just have to give me some time."

"I don't have time." Damon opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off. "Damon, look. I get it, okay? Somehow, someway...I...loved you." I stepped out of his grasp and walked over to the box on my bed, grabbing the smaller black box on top of all of Damon's things. "I mean, I loved you enough to accept this!" Damon's eyes followed the black box as I stepped in front of him, slowly easing him out of the room.

"I don't know how it's possible, but I loved you. I don't remember what it felt like or how it happened or...anything for that matter, but it happened. But even though I can't deny it, I just don't have those feelings anymore." I reached forward and grabbed his hand, setting the box inside of it. Damon looked down like his whole world had been crushed. Strangely, I felt a swarm of guilt overcome me, enough to mumble a: "I'm sorry, Damon, but I just can't marry you."

"Madeline...don't..." Damon warned me, but he voluntarily walked out of the room, right on the other side of the threshold, and I closed the door on him softly, turning around with my back pressed up against the frame as I exhaled deeply and regretfully. I could hear Damon's footsteps as he fled, and I did feel sorry for him—more than I thought I'd be. But this wasn't just about us; it wasn't even about me. It was about the fact that everyone's lives would be a hell of a lot easier if I handled what I needed to handle without anyone interfering.

Caroline, Elena, and I were all sitting outside on the Whitmore campus along a stone edge with coffee that Elena had picked up on her way back from the hospital. Today was the worst day of the week for me only because it was one of the days that I was required to take off from the hospital. It just seemed so unnecessary to have that rule for a vampire, who didn't need to sleep, drink, eat, or pee among other human necessities. Regardless, we soaked up the morning sun under the trees and I sat in between our blonde friend and my sister, who were both listening to me as I explained what went on with Damon the previous night.

"You didn't feel anything?" Caroline confirmed. I shrugged.

"I felt guilty for returning the ring and he was symmetrically attractive, like he always was, but—"

Elena cut me off. "I'm sorry, did you just say that Damon was 'symmetrically attractive'?" I nodded, causing her to exhale in disbelief. "Madeline, I dated him. He's much more than 'symmetrically attractive', trust me."

"Gross," Caroline whined, turning her head to Elena, who gave a slight shrug as if she'd done nothing wrong. I sighed and gave Elena a stare.

"But I don't remember loving him. At all."

"So you returned the ring?" I took a sip of my coffee and nodded and watched as Caroline's face became concerned. "How'd he take it?"

I bit down on my lip. "I'm not exactly sure. He started to say something but he was already outside the door so I just...I closed it."

Elena nearly choked. "I'm sorry, you what?"

I nodded hesitantly. "Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I realize it was a bad call. I mean, what if he went off and killed Jeremy again like when you rejected him?"

Elena paused. "No, Damon was drunk when he did that. And it was hard time for him because Katherine manipulated him and..." Caroline and I were just staring blankly at her until she came to a stop and arched an eyebrow. "What? He told me about it last summer."

Caroline frowned. "Was that before or after your evening sexy-time?"

I looked back at the blonde vampire. "Please tell me you did not just say 'sexy-time', Caroline..."

"After." Elena took a sip of her coffee and Caroline ignored my statement as we both looked back over to her as she smiled. "Wednesdays were game nights. We were playing Truth or Dare—"

Caroline yelled over her, "Ah! I don't want to hear this. I never want to hear the end of that story."

I scoffed. "It's an unspoken ending, Caroline, and I'm pretty sure we can both take a wild guess and come up to about the same answer."

Caroline shook her head. "We're moving on. Right now." She looked at me as Elena and I both stopped talking, having nothing more to say, and continued, "Look, maybe not remembering him is a good thing, you know? You're doing well in school, you're following your dreams, you met that gorgeous doctor..."

"Sebastian," I filled in her for her. She snapped her fingers.

"Right. Sebastian. So what do we call him? Bash? Seb? Or is it just Sebastian?"

"They used to call me Lobster in elementary school." Suddenly, we were interrupted by the infamous doctor, who walked up to the three of us from the upper level of the stone wall we were perched on. I smiled at him, and he smiled right back while Caroline and Elena looked up in awe. "Morning, Madeline." He looked over at my sister. "Elena. And who's this?"

"Caroline Forbes." My friend stuck out her hand with a slaphappy grin on her face and he shook it with a smile. The appreciativeness in her eyes did not go unnoticed.

"Sebastian Buckner," he introduced himself, as if she didn't know who he already was. "And, no, you can't call me Lobster. Damn mermaids."

"What are you doing here?" I asked him as I squinted up at the doctor in the sunlight. "Shouldn't you be working? You know, that job where you save lives and everything?"

He chuckled. "Hospital fundraiser's tonight so they gave me the day off."

I nodded. "Right. All the volunteers are required to go." I exhaled with wide eyes. "That should be so much fun." Dresses and dances. What could go wrong?

Sebastian held out his hand. "You want to take a walk with me?"

"Sure." I grabbed his hand and let him pull me up from the wall and I grabbed my coffee from the ledge and looked back at my sister and Caroline. "I'll see you guys later."

"Bye," they chorused together, but I didn't get what was entertaining them, so I gave a confused look and walked off without saying anything else. I finished my coffee and threw it in the trash can.

"That was strange."

"What was?"

"Caroline and Elena. They were embellishing."

"In what?"

"In you," I answered honestly as we made it up to the pathway instead of strolling through the grass. "Which is strange, because they've seen their share fare of attractive men before. Dated them, even."

I could see him smile. "Well I'm flattered."

"Don't be." I sighed. "Elena will get her hands on anything she can touch with one hand. And Caroline...Caroline's a romantic."

"And you're not?" he asked, surprised. I looked over at him and laughed.

"Of course not. Why do you ask?"

He stopped us in the middle of the pathway. "Don't get me wrong, Madeline, I'm an avid fan of playing games with women to win them over. It makes life more interesting...or at least, that's how I see it." Sebastian paused and surveyed me quietly. "But I like you. And I know that you're probably only here because you need someone to help with what you're going through but if you're interested, you need to tell me so that I don't waste my time pining over someone who doesn't want me back."

I had to admit, I was a little caught off guard with the sudden declaration. I reached up and rubbed my temple, closing my eyes for a moment. "You have literally caught me on the worst possible week you could ever ask me if I return your feelings." I opened my eyes to find him staring into mine, and I sighed heavily. "The thing is...I have no idea whether or not I like you because I don't know what I'm supposed to look for. I've...I've never loved anyone in my entire life—o-or, that's not technically true, but I don't remember loving anyone so it's the same thing. I mistook friendship for love with my high school boyfriend and I don't want to do that again."

I could see a cloud of disappointment come over his eyes as I slowed down. He nodded. "I get it; I do. And I will do everything I can to protect you from your other side, but if that's how you feel then..." I watched as he slowly started to walk in the other direction. "I think I should just go."

I saw him increase the distance more and more, and in those few seconds where he was close enough to pull back and then it became evident that I would have to call his attention back with a yell, I started to think about it. Not for the sake of anything going on regarding Madeline Reichs and things of that nature, but because it was then, as he walked away, that I realized what he meant by asking me if I liked him. I did not know what 'love' was supposed to mean, but the night before, where he just about kissed me, that was what he meant by 'like'. He wanted to know if there was a chance that I returned that feeling of wanting to kiss him as much as he wanted to kiss me.

"Sebastian, wait!" I called out. He stopped and turned around as I walked towards him and nodded. "You're right. I do like you."

"Madeline, I told you, if you're doing this because of your other personality—"

"But I'm not." I cut him off and narrowed my eyes, trying to come up with the words to say. He watched me with confusion as I struggled to find words. "I...I wanted to kiss you yesterday, but I couldn't. Because someone from my past just showed up and I just don't know what to do right now. This is all very confusing to me."

"Someone from your past?" Sebastian repeated, concerned. I shook my head.

"It doesn't matter. Right now, and I'm sorry to say this, but we can't matter." My lips twitched into a sad smile. "I need you to help me with what I'm going through right now. Please. And then, afterwards, maybe we can see if this is worth a shot. I just wanted you to know that...last night was not one-sided."

I didn't know what Sebastian was thinking, nor was I sure I wanted to, but I watched as he pursed his lips for a moment before saying, "Do you think that we could matter? For one night only?"

I hesitated. "Whoa, I am not that kind of—"

He rolled his eyes. "Madeline, please. I meant tonight for the hospital fundraiser." I watched as his lips turned up in a smile. "Would you like to be my date?"

I frowned. "But I have to go anyways." He stared at me blankly, unimpressed, and I finally caught on and showed him by nodding. "Right. Right, sorry. I'm really terrible at this, I guess. Sure, I'll be your date on this mandatory-work-event-slash-date-with-the-handsome-doctor-thing—"

"Madeline?"

"Hmm?"

"You ramble when you're nervous. It's a common anxiety symptom."

I took in a deep breath and tried to stay quiet for at leas three beats. He smiled, and once those three beats were over, I gave him one back with a laugh. "Right. I'll...see you tonight, then."

"I'll pick you up from your dorm," he promised, and then walked away into the midst of students.

Damon entered the doors of the Whitmore Hospital fundraiser just to catch the end of Alaric and Jo's conversation as Alaric praised, "So...basically, you're a genius."

Hearing this, Damon moved up and wedged himself between the couple with his arms slung over their shoulders. Both humans sighed at his dramatic entrance. "Or she has a witchy advantage." He watched their uncomfortable looks. "What, it's supposed to be a secret that she's a witch?"

Damon walked around to face the crowd as Jo defended herself, "I don't practice, so no witchy advantage, just a lot of hard work." She looked at Alaric and whispered, "Who invited him?"

"He sort of invited himself," Alaric explained and raised his voice louder so Damon would inevitably hear, "mostly to stalk his fiancée."

Damon turned around sharply. "Ex-fiancée. Ex. Remember? She returned the ring."

"Ouch," Jo hissed at him, her eyes bearing a certain amount of pity. "That must suck."

Damon just gave her a sour smile and looked at Alaric. "Besides, don't be cynical, Ric. I'm here to spend some quality time with my once dead, now human best bud."

He might've held some truth to that statement if the door hadn't opened behind Ric and Jo to reveal the very person Alaric was speaking of, and Damon barely let any oxygen get to his head. Madeline walked in, as oblivious to her beauty as ever, a vision in a sea-green dress with her hair in a braid to one side of her shoulder, her cheeks flushed from the wind but pale and flawless as every vampire's. It was then when he took notice in remembering the human girl he lost and the vampire one that stood before them.

And, then, just as she lit up Damon's eyes with the mere sight of her, a dark cloud settled upon his orbs when he watched the man holding the door open for her step through and put his arm around her waist as if she were his. It enraged Damon, and his face fell as quickly as it'd risen.

"Who's that?" Damon muttered darkly to the couple in front of him. Jo and Alaric looked back to see Sebastian lead Madeline over somewhere in the opposite direction of where they were standing. Jo turned back at him with a smile.

"That would be Dr. Sebastian Buckner, one of the top doctors at the hospital. He graduated from Harvard on a full scholarship way earlier than the rest of his class and somehow ended up here. It's surprising, because he's way too good of a neurosurgeon to be here, but..." Jo shrugged. Damon ground his teeth together to keep from snapping. "Oh, and he's definitely got quite a way with women. He and I dated briefly for a while." She looked at Alaric. "I was the one who ended it, don't worry, but we're still friends. And, from the looks of it, I think it's safe to say he's Madeline's date tonight."

The dark-haired Salvatore looked over at the witch-doctor spitefully. "Did I say I liked you? I meant the opposite."

"Think about it logically," I reprimanded Sebastian as he wrote out a raffle ticket by the bin containing and endless amount of tiny stubs. I peered inside of it with a twitching frown. "You've got to think that the odds are...oh, I'd say about one in two hundred. Maybe even more—the chances of you winning are slim to none, at best."

"Well, Madeline, I don't care about the odds," Sebastian didn't look up at me as he finished writing out the ticket and threw it into the bin. Finally, he turned at me and gave me a breathtaking smile. "I have been to this thing three years in a row and I have never won once. I have a feeling it's my lucky night."

I laughed. "Oh, really? And what's got you so sure you'll prevail in this .05% chance?"

"You." He grinned widely, but it only made me snicker. "Come on. You look beautiful, which automatically makes you a good luck charm."

"There's no such thing as good luck," I countered with a small grin. "It's a lie. There are only coincidences."

Sebastian paused. "So...is it just a coincidence that your sister and one of the other volunteers are most likely heading off to the storage closet to make out?"

"What?" I looked over my shoulder to the left and watched as Elena and Liam tried to be stealthy about their sneaky rendezvous in the storage closet that they seemingly indiscreetly slid into. I shook my head in disbelief. "My God, my sister really has no class at all, does she?"

"She's young." Sebastian shrugged with a light-hearted smirk. I turned back at him and sighed. "Let her have some fun. Who knows? Maybe by the end of the night you'll be having some fun, yourself."

I nodded slowly. "Good luck with that. I've been known to be a real buzzkill."

Without warning, Sebastian moved his hand forward and pushed a stray strand of hair that had fallen out of my braid over to the side, and as I watched him, he smiled. "Not with me, you won't."

"Good evening, Madeline." I jumped, causing Sebastian to drop his hand from my face to his side and behind me, I watched as Damon stepped up just behind my shoulder. I looked up at him and felt my heart start to spin as he looked over at Sebastian with curious eyes, trying not to stare to long.

"W-What are...what are you doing here?" I stuttered, absolutely stunned to find Damon in a tux at a hospital fundraiser he wasn't even invited to.

Damon didn't answer my question, but rather extended his hand to my date. "Hi. Damon Salvatore, Madeline's ex. Nice to meet you..."

Sebastian shook his hand wearily. "Sebastian Buckner."

"Sebastian," Damon repeated slowly. I could feel the sweat that I wasn't supposed to get start to gather on my forehead. Sebastian looked over at me, confused.

"I'm sorry, did he say Damon? As in Damon, your ex, Damon, who died?" I opened my mouth, but nothing came out, so Sebastian questioned further in a lower tone, "Is he...a..."

"Yes," I told him, nodding. I looked back and forth between the dark-haired Salvatore and the dark-haired human at my sides. "Yes, he, uh...he is, but he was one before he died and...and..." I trailed off and bit down on my lip softly. "And this is super uncomfortable for me. I think I need a drink or something."

"Did you tell him about vampires?" Damon whispered quietly to me. I looked up at him to see his wild eyes. "Madeline, the one thing you never do is tell a human unless you're sure—"

"She didn't tell me about them. I knew," Sebastian explained, cutting into the conversation. Damon narrowed his eyes carefully. "I've known long before Madeline."

"Huh." Damon nodded slowly. "Well, Madeline only found out about me because I tried to kill her. Which I'm pretty sure she remembers perfectly."

"Damon," I warned him lowly. "This is so not the time—"

"But, of course, she forgave me for everything and we were a happy inter-species couple for a while...until I cheated on her with her sister, of course." Damon sighed. "One of the worst mistakes of my life, let me tell you. Oh, but then, here's the kicker: she forgot all about me! Literally, memory wiped. Of course, that was for everyone. She forgot all of her friends and family and then blah, blah, blah—she remembered again and I proposed."

I covered my eyes with my hand and sighed. "Oh, dear lord, this is happening right now..."

"You were engaged, Madeline?" Sebastian asked softly, almost hurt. I looked up at him with guilty eyes and watched as Damon barreled on.

"Yep. We were engaged, until I died, and then her life went to hell and she had my best friend compel every single memory of me away from her head. This morning she returned the ring to me and called the end of our relationship." Damon stepped forward and clapped his hands on Sebastian's shoulders. "So here we are, and the ex meets the new guy. How freaked out are you right now?"

"Damon!" I scolded him, trying to step forward to break up the two. Instead, Damon waved her away and continued to compel the human in front of him. Sebastian shook his head.

"Not at all. I could take you with my eyes closed."

"Confident." Damon huffed. "Sexy."

"Just stop. You've made your point," I begged. Sebastian looked over Damon's shoulder at me, his eyes wide.

"Is he compelling me right now—?"

"Focus." Damon brought the human's attention back to his eyes and he compelled further, "Go to the bar. Get her a Jack and Coke."

Before I could protest, Sebastian was already headed to the bar. When Damon turned around at me, I muttered, "I despise Jack and Coke, Damon."

"I know." He smiled, causing me to frown.

"You're such a jerk," I snapped. "He doesn't deserve that. He's a good man, Damon. I like him."

"Just...take a time out, okay?" Damon pleaded desperately as he held out his hand. "Dance with me. Just one song."

"I hate dancing, too. Ever since the Miss Mystic pageant where I danced with—"

"Where you danced with me." I stopped cold and looked right into Damon's eyes, where they showed nothing but sincerity. He nodded. "You danced with me that day. And, as much as you hated the dresses and the make up and the songs and the popularity contest of it all...I made it worthwhile because of that one dance."

And while he waited for me to accept his hand, I thought about what the harm of it could do. Deciding to take a risk, I took his invitation and he lead me out onto the dance floor, where the music overhead changed to a softer song than the one before. But the music was distant in my ears once Damon pulled me close and started to sway us back and forth, making sure my horrible dancing didn't get in the way of his.

Kiss me out of the bearded barley

Nightly, beside the green, green grass

Swing, swing; swing the spinning step

I wear those shoes and you will wear that dress

I could tell Damon had a point to the dance, and I wanted him to get to it and stop wasting valuable time playing mind games.

"Damon, what is the point to all of this?"

He feigned offense. "The point? Well, I am an incredible dancer, and it would be a shame not share my talent with the world." I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at him, but Damon chuckled under his breath. "Oh, don't worry. I didn't see you smile."

"That's because I—" Before I could finish the sentence, Damon thrusted me underneath his arm in a twirl and the next thing I knew, I was being reeled into him so fast that I ended up collapsing my arms around his neck and he captured my body right against his, his hand resting dangerously low on my waist. I breathed slowly and finished, "—didn't."

Oh, kiss me beneath the milky twilight

Lead me out on the moonlit floor

Lift your open hand

Strike up the band and make the fireflies dance

Silver moon's sparkling

So kiss me

"Miss Mystic Falls," Damon began slowly, refusing to let any more space between us. It was extremely uncomfortable, standing mere inches away from his mouth. "It was the first time we ever danced. You already chose Matt as your date and Elena took Stefan, but he stood her up so I had to compel some backup to save her from humiliation. But he's not the only one I compelled."

I leaned back slowly and looked into Damon's eyes. "I don't want to go down memory lane, Damon. It's not going to work..."

"Before the competition, you were a nervous wreck. And when I say wreck, I mean wreck. You hated to dance, you hated the competition...t-the only reason you were even there was because Elena guilted you into doing it with her because it was something your mom wanted the both of you to participate in, but you were dreading it. So, I compelled dear old Matt to preoccupy his time somewhere else and I stepped in, sexy as hell, and saved you from being absolutely miserable." Damon paused. "Of course, you and Elena were both worried sick about Stefan, but there was this moment on that dance floor—this one, perfect moment—when I could see that you wanted me. For the first time in your life, you simply...wanted someone."

Kiss me down by the broken treehouse

Swing, swing upon its hanging tire

Bring, bring; bring your flowered hat

We'll take the trail marked on your father's map

It was a while before I responded, temporarily detained in the heat of his breath until I finally shook my head and stuttered, "D-Damon, I came here with someone tonight, okay? Someone who has been very important to me over the past few days and you showing up here...unannounced, it just complicates things."

"Come unannounced?" Damon repeated, dumbfounded. "What are you talking about? I literally went through time and space to marry you, Madeline." He clutched me closer, his nose touching mine. "We are complicated. Human or vampire, we will always be complicated. But I don't care whether you're a human or a vampire because I want you to be my wife."

"I know." I pushed him away gently and turned my head, but he eased up so that I didn't have to be rude. We stopped in the middle of the dance floor, where I felt a string of emotions fly out of me—emotions that I never knew existed. "Do you want me to tell you that I feel terrible? Because, Damon, I do. I feel dreadful and I can't even believe that I am saying this right now because I have never felt as bad as I do right now. But I can't tell you the things you want to hear because I don't remember the way we were. I don't remember Miss Mystic Falls. I don't remember us."

Oh, kiss me; oh, beneath the milky twilight

Lead me out on the moonlit floor

Lift your open hand

Strike up the band and make the fireflies dance

Silver moon's sparkling

So kiss me

"I do," Damon began, "and no matter how much I missed you or how much pain I was in, I never would have erased everything we ever had. Even if I was drowning in grief, I'd rather hang onto every moment that I ever held you or every laugh that I ever heard, every shred of happiness that we ever had. I would rather spend every moment in agony than erase the memory of you."

But as sweet as the words were, it came out as a spew of anger. Damon's hands ended up around my face, his lips just millimeters from mine, and I felt something inside of me snap like a twig. I suddenly felt hot and uncomfortable in my own skin, frustrated with being inside the same room with so many people. Pushing his hands away, I shook my head.

"I-I need air."

And so I left him, in the middle of the dance floor, probably as frustrated as I was.

So kiss me

When I re-entered the medical center fundraiser, the music tempo had changed severely and Sebastian came up to me right at the door, obviously seeing that I had gone outside before. When he approached me, he didn't look all that happy, but I sucked in a breath and expected the worst.

"I saw you dancing with your ex earlier," Sebastian said calmly. I sighed.

"I'm so sorry. I had no idea he would be here and he's driving me insane and I..." I took my hand and pinched the bridge of my nose in embarrassment. "I've been so rude to you, haven't I? I feel like I've lost my head, I—"

"Madeline, relax." I felt his hand on my arm and I returned my hand to my side and found comfort in his eyes. He nodded. "Your life must be stressful right now. I wish, I really wish, that I could make things easier but I'm just complicating things right now. That story he told me about you erasing him, was it true?"

"Unfortunately."

"Then you have a lot to figure out." He stepped forward and kissed my cheek. "I'm going to head home. I didn't win the raffle anyways." I smiled, and so did he, very lightly. "But call me before the magic runs out on your anklet. We will figure out another way to get her out. I promise."

I felt so bad for being so standoffish—not as bad as I felt for Damon, but I still felt bad. I nodded at Sebastian gently. "Yeah. I will. Thank you, Sebastian."

"Of course." And he walked out, leaving me with the rest of the night's fate lying right in my hands. I spotted Damon at the bar, pouring shots straight from the bottle. I don't know what came over me, but my head suddenly felt very light and as he poured his umpteenth shot, I stole it from him and downed the alcohol completely. He turned around, surprised.

I winced at the burn, but didn't dwell. My eyes caught Damon's. "You've been back for two goddamn days and you already have me drinking. What the hell are you doing to me?"

Damon shrugged. "I don't think there's an exact scientific name for it, which I'm sure you were looking for. Or who knows? Maybe there is one and I just don't know it."

I ignored him, which seemed to have him surprised. "I want to remember."

He snorted. "Well, you're a day late and a dollar short, honey."

I groaned at him, which caused him to smile. "You're driving me insane, you know? All you do is throw out stupid one-liners and act like a fucking Shakespearean playwright with your cheesy speeches and...and that song, I mean...what, did you pay the DJ off or something? You know what, it wouldn't even surprise me if you did."

Damon frowned. "Shakespeare was a plagiarizer. I'd like to think of myself as a more sophisticated speaker. Martin Luther King, maybe...but if we're talking about writers, then I'd have to go with—"

"Damon, I have spent my entire life under the impression that I have never truly loved a single man. Not one." Damon fell silent, his eyes capturing mine as I stared at him wildly. "So if there's a part of me that I'm missing, a part that has been able to break through this...this wall that I can't seem to tear down and if you're a part of that...I want to know. I want to try and remember."

He nodded. "Yeah. How are you supposed to do that?"

I exhaled heavily. "Well, if we think about this magically, the compulsion can't be undone. So...maybe if we think about it logically, we can treat it like amnesia. If you take me back to places I've been before and tell me what we did there, something might trigger a memory and they could all just...come back."

I barely sounded convinced, but he was already on board. "Yeah. Sure. Tell me what you want me to do."

I bit my lip in thought, trying to find the words to come up with. Finally, I looked up at him and nodded while watching him smile.

"Take me to where you asked me to marry you."

Damon and I stood leaned against the hood of my car at the edge of the Mystic Falls border overlooking the starry night sky. He looked up towards the sky with a smile on his face, but I shook my head as I processed the story he'd told me about what went down the night he died.

"I don't remember being here with you that night," I confessed as I walked up closer to the border. Damon watched as I paced back and forth.

"Okay. What do you remember? How are you...rewired?"

"Well, we had to stop the Travelers..." I started. He nodded, urging me to continue.

"Yeah..."

"And you said you had a plan but I remember knowing that the plan involved someone blowing themselves up in the Mystic Grill." I shrugged. "It's just common sense; you needed a metaphorical match to light the fire. But the next thing I knew, you were dead. You drove your car into the Grill and triggered the explosion."

Damon seemed amused, irately at that, but amused nonetheless. He shifted with a grin. "There's just one little part of that story you're missing. You got in the car with me."

I stared blankly before I started to laugh. "What? That's...that's ridiculous!"

"Not ridiculous, only true." I could see him think back to the night as he relayed, "I was all ready to go, and the door opens, and you in your...passionate and adorable way yelled at me to get the car in gear and didn't give me a chance to tell you to get out. Neither one of us even thought about the fact that dying could turn you into a vampire because all that mattered was that we were together. That was the moment I realized that you would make the...bossiest, stubbornest, most beautiful, and craziest wife ever."

I shifted uncomfortably. "All right...how about something else? Something that doesn't involve the both of us on a suicide mission?"

"Okay..." Damon thought back for a moment before he smiled. "Well, there's a closed-down bar in Georgia that can tell some lively stories about your very first night drunk."

I arched an eyebrow. "What are you talking about? My first night drunk was..." I trailed off, trying to remember, but then stopped. "I-I don't remember my first night drunk because I was drunk."

He scowled. "Trust me, Madeline, you remembered that night very clearly. I compelled you to believe that I kissed you and you were all hot and bothered for...oh, about an hour. Very cute, actually, not that I would've told you that at the time. Needless to say, it caused you to drink...and drink...and drink until you were up dancing on the bartop and had pulled me along."

I squared my jaw at him. "Fine. First night drunk with Damon Salvatore, got it. What else?"

He grinned. "Well, you can't forget the alternate reality we were in."

I smiled sourly. "I did forget. That's why we're here."

"Katherine had spitefully spent you to an alternate reality, and your subconscious, madly in love with me, decided to let me tag along for the ride." Damon stepped closer. "You were human, so was I. We were teenagers, fighting about stupid things, in love with each other but too afraid to say it. Well, you were. I very much admitted to you that I loved you and then on prom night, I kissed you after you told me you weren't going to a college in America. It was like a chick-flick in our heads." I rolled my eyes as he neared me. "Needless to say, I realized just how to wake you up because a projection of you came through us in the alternate reality. She kissed me, too, and I realized what I had to do. I ran up to the room you were unconscious in, my room of course, and I kissed you. You woke up and you remembered everything."

I stared at him quietly. "You do realize you just described the ending of 'Sleeping Beauty', right? The Disney movie?"

Damon stepped closer. "That's because I was your Prince Charming. I still am." I was now getting extremely uncomfortable, but all I could do was cross my arms over my chest and avoid his gaze. Damon continued, "But my favorite memory of us, oh, one that I've relived a million times over the last four months, is not when we first kissed, or when we first slept together, or even when you told me you would make me the happiest man alive and marry me." He reached forward and brushed another piece of hair out of my eyes, and though I was lost for a primary second, I was a little annoyed with how I was being treated like a doll by two men. "It was a night we had the summer Stefan was with Klaus and we were trying to get him back. Elena was so hell-bent on finding him, but you and I...we were finally together, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it. I took you on a date, and it was the best night of our entire summer. Everything else just faded away and it was just the two of us for one night only. But when we went outside the restaurant, it was raining harder than it ever had before. We darted to the car, soaking wet, and had to do the same thing to get back in the house. But when we were safe from the rain inside the boarding house, you took your hand and you put it here."

Without warning, Damon grabbed my hand softly and placed it right over his heart, and I turned my head and shifted awkwardly as I felt the warmth of his chest. He watched me as I stared at the ground uncomfortably until I slipped out of his grasp.

"S-Sorry! I'm sorry, I'm sorry. But this isn't working. I don't know what I"m supposed to be feeling."

I turned and walked towards the border, all while hearing Damon sigh. "Hey, maybe you just need to try a little harder..."

"Try harder?" I repeated incredulously as I stared back at him with a scoff. "I am trying, Damon! Harder than I've ever tried before. But every time I look at you, I just..."

"What?" he prompted and stepped closer as I my voice fell soft. "What do you feel like? Huh?"

"I feel like..." I struggled to grasp the word. "I feel...like...like I'm a child, looking at a man who just wants her to love him." Damon's face fell as I shook my head. "But I can't. I don't know how. I'm incapable of love, Damon. I can't give you what you want because I don't remember how to do it."

"Hey." Damon reached up and cupped my face in his hands. "There are things you can't erase, and you know that. There were things that Silas's spell couldn't erase and that's how we made it work. Look at me, Madeline, look."

But he was too close now, leaning in right as if he were about to kiss me and I realized that him doing it would only make things ten times worse. I turned from him and walked away, causing Damon to sigh and back off.

"Sorry. I shouldn't have tried that." I could hear Damon's faint voice as I felt my head reel. Logic wasn't working; I couldn't treat this like a human with memory loss. I had to treat this with both magic and logic, and as I stared at the border of Mystic Falls, I found the solution. If humans could forget compulsion inside Mystic Falls, so could vampires. Without hesitation, I started forward. "Where are you going? Madeline! Hey! Madeline!"

But I hit the border just as he called my name out, and I could barely feel what was happening to me. I could feel the fire, but what I saw was something different. Memories flashed behind my eyes, and I could see it very clearly: stolen kisses, burning touches, pouring rain. Stolen kisses, burning touches, pouring rain. They just played on repeat and I saw it, right there. A wall had been torn through and I could feel the texture of Damon's skin, the taste of his lips...all of it.

Little did I know that I was about to turn into a burnt chip before my ex-fiancé's eyes.

"Madeline!" Damon had yanked me back from the border, trying to smother the flames all around my body. The second I crossed the line, the wall was replaced, and all I could remember was one thing, one very unclear thing. The flames were smothered on their own and my raw skin healed immediately, though the dress was definitely compromised. He was behind me, his voice in my ear, "Hey! What the hell are you doing? Ninety more seconds, you'd be dead!"

I shook my head. "We tried it the other way, Damon, it didn't work. This can undo the compulsion—it's the only way to fix this!"

Damon stepped around me so that we were facing each other and he put his hands on my shoulders gently. "No. No, no, no; hey! Listen, I would give anything for you to remember, but I'm not gonna risk your life."

"Damon, it worked," I told him through heavy breaths. "I felt something that I'd never felt before—"

"I would rather you forget every second of our life together than die," Damon snapped coldly, looking from the border back to me. I sighed. "It's the last thing I would ever let you do...even if you don't remember that. Come on, let's get you home."

Sheriff Forbes looked between her two daughters with an irritated expression as she sat down in an emergency medical room waiting for a doctor in the Whitmore Medical Center.

"This is totally unnecessary," their mother voiced. A cut ran along the side of her head, but she felt entirely fine. While everyone else had been at the Whitmore Hospital fundraiser or trying to remember things they lost, Audrey, Caroline, and Stefan were preoccupied with saving Sheriff Forbes from Tripp's men, who wanted Tripp back. Of course, Enzo took the initiative to make the kidnapping a win-win because, while the two sisters were able to get Sheriff Forbes back, Tripp crossed the border into Mystic Falls and died as a vampire, as planned by Enzo.

"You hit your head!" Caroline complained. "You could have a concussion, and I know better than to trust that you're going to take yourself for a checkup back home."

Audrey looked over her shoulder to find Stefan walk into the room. She turned around at him and snapped, "What are you doing here? I told you to go. We're fine."

"Could you two at least just check and see how long the wait is going to be?" the Sheriff asked her daughters, who both turned around. Caroline gave a smile and nodded, pulling Audrey along.

"Gladly."

"Okay." The law officer watched her daughters leave the room to get the doctor and she was left with Stefan, who still stood in the room even after Audrey had requested his dismissal. She sighed. "I see audrey's still icing you out."

"Yeah. Anyway, you want to help me fix that?"

Sheriff Forbes gave him a sad smile. "Sorry, Stefan. I'm her mother, I'm not allowed. Besides, you know she's..."

"She's with Matt." Stefan exhaled. "Yeah. I know."

"Sorry." But Liz wasn't exactly sorry for it; Matt was a good kid, and she always liked him with Caroline. However, all she cared about was whether or not her daughters were happy.

Right then, Caroline and Audrey returned with a nurse at their side. Caroline smiled. "There's no wait."

Sheriff Forbes chuckled, and Audrey turned to her sister. "Do you want to stay in here?"

"Yeah. Are you going to?"

"No, I'm just gonna step outside." Audrey turned towards the door as Caroline nodded, but was far from happy when she saw Stefan step out with her, closing the door behind him. It was no use to say that things had been awkward over the day because, well, they were much more than that. Enzo, in his typical evil manner, decided to voice the opinion and tell Stefan that he believed Audrey was still madly in love with him but hated herself because she was with the "do-gooder human", his words exactly. And, while Matt helped rescue Sheriff Forbes, he had no time to worry about his girlfriend and her ex-boyfriend. Seeing that Stefan wasn't leaving, Audrey sighed. "I thought I told you to go."

"A hospital is public property," Stefan reminded her. She frowned, but didn't look at him.

"You know, I would appreciate it if you didn't talk to my mother about Matt."

"You heard that?"

"Not everyone has to be a vampire to hear things right next door when the door's open, Stefan," Audrey said sourly. "Besides, I've alway had good hearing. I hear everything."

"Only when you listen." Stefan watched as she glared at him, but said nothing more as she peered inside of the room.

The young Salvatore sighed and said suddenly, "Why?"

Audrey raised an eyebrow. "Why was I listening? Because Caroline compelled the nurse and I—"

"Why him? Why Matt?" Stefan questioned, earning her to look over at him. "If Enzo was right, if you really do still love me, then I want to know."

"I thought I told you I wasn't going to talk about this. Ever." Audrey looked back into the hospital room and ignored the vampire next to her.

"Audrey, please just talk to me. I want to know what I...what I can do to make this better, I want to know why—"

"You don't get the right to ask me that!" she snapped at him, her arms crossed over her chest as she turned to face him. Stefan bowed his head and listened. "You don't get the right to believe that I still love you. You want to know why I picked Matt? You want to know why I decided to move on? It's because you did. You treated me like I was nothing, you've always treated me that way. I've always been the second-best to you...the only reason you love me is because I fell in love with you at a time where you were heartbroken because your girlfriend cheated on you with your brother. It was my mistake thinking that kind of love was real."

"Elena and I have been over for a very long time," Stefan told her softly. "And I loved you. I told you that, countless times. Just because I fell in love with you after her doesn't make you second-best. I still love you, Audrey, and I want you back."

"But where is that going to get us, Stefan?" Audrey countered, scoffing. He looked at her with hurt eyes. "What, do you think we're going to be any different than Madeline and Damon were? She turned into a vampire. It's inevitable, because she chose to be with one. I don't want to be a vampire, okay? I like being human. I like it a lot, and if being with Matt lets me be human, I'm going to be with Matt."

"I would never ask you to turn into a vampire," Stefan told her.

"You don't have to. Because it'll happen. It always does."

He sighed. "What do you want me to say? That I'm sorry I'm a vampire? I am, okay? I truly am. But that doesn't change how I feel about you at all and it doesn't change the fact that you can still be human. I promise you, I can make that happen, but I'm sorry for the way I've acted...I'm sorry for everything I've done to hurt you. I don't know what else you want me to say so that you can stop hating me."

"I want you to tell me that you're gonna let me go." The words spilled out of her mouth fast, and once they were out, she looked up at him to meet his surprised eyes. She took a moment, but nodded. "I want you to let me go, Stefan. I want to be happy...and I want to be happy with him."

Stefan stayed quiet, and he realized the desperation and brokenness in the human's eyes before him. He felt terrible, but inside, he hurt more for him than he did for her. He didn't want to let her go. He wanted her to be happy...but he wanted her to be happy with him. It was then he realized what a huge mistake the last few months had been.

But he did the right thing, as always. "Okay. Okay, Audrey, I...I'll let you go, if that's what you want."

She nodded. "It is. Thank you." Audrey paused. "And...for the record, I accept your apology."

He stared at her. "But you do...still hate me?"

She took a moment to respond, but eventually nodded again. "Yes. Yeah, I still hate you Stefan. Because if I don't hate you then...if I don't hate you then I'll love you again. And if you're going to let me go, I should, too."

Without waiting for a respond, she turned and walked away, leaving Stefan behind.

The walk back to my dorm was silent, and awkward for the most part. But as we reached the door, I realized that it was my turn to say something to him. He had done enough tonight.

"I remembered something," I told him quietly as we slowed to a stop. He waited for me to clarify. "It was mostly bits and pieces...moments that I didn't have context for, but there was something that stood out. There was rain...a lot of it, and a fireplace..."

Damon stared for a while, but didn't finish the sentence. "You know, when I was in that prison...hell, I used to dream a lot about how our life would be when I came back. I was so thrilled because...I knew that you were a vampire. And I knew that we could be together for the rest of eternity, like I always wanted. But another part of me...another part of me hated that you'd become something that you couldn't stand. You'd lost your human life, how was that something I could be happy about?"

I ignored him and pushed, "Damon, we were in the boarding house, the fireplace was glowing, and rain was pouring outside. What happened?"

He barreled on, "But even though you hate what you are, which I have no doubt about, you're doing everything you can to live that human life that you wanted. And you're living it without me...and you're happy. You may not feel happy, but you are. You're doing what you love and...and maybe you'd be happy if we gave this a chance and you married me, but the truth is, you're better off without me. Maybe this is how it's supposed to be."

I blinked. "What do you mean?"

"I died. You started over." Damon paused. "And this isn't the first time I've had to go through this. What if the Universe just doesn't want us to be together? What if they keep making you forget me because you're supposed to? Because they want you to live life without me? What if this is our fate?"

I shook my head. "I don't believe in fate, Damon. There is no one out there writing my life, we do it ourselves."

Damon shook his head as well, refusing to listen. "I need you to live your life. Be happy. I love you, Madeline. Enough to let you go."

He hung his head, a sad expression overcome on his face, and I looked at him with despair. I didn't want to push, but I needed to know. I wasn't going to let him throw everything we'd done away.

"It was raining, we were inside soaking wet, the fire was glowing, you said I put my hand over your heart...and then what?"

Damon hesitated, but after a while looked up and shrugged. "You were tired and cold and miserable, so I took you upstairs and you slept it off. You woke up the next morning and we continued our search for Stefan like it never happened."

Before I could stop him, he turned on his heel and left me. I had no choice but to turn back to the dorm room, and with a tired sigh, I pushed open the door. Elena stood immediately upon my presence, and I watched as a dark expression came across her features.

"What is it?" I asked wearily. She swallowed.

"Liam's gonna find out about vampires," she began, terrified. I sighed; the drama never ended.

Damon and Madeline stumbled through the threshold of the Salvatore house, dripping from the rain outside. Damon shut the door so that the cold air couldn't get through into the house, the empty and quiet house, and he watched as Madeline shivered, her teeth chattering through her smile.

"You c-c-couldn't have c-c-checked the w-weather app?" she demanded with a soft laugh, watching as he walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders to get warmth into her body. He'd already given her his jacket so that she wasn't so cold, but they were still standing in the foyer dripping wet.

"Come on." Damon grabbed her hand and pulled her into the parlor. "I'll start the fireplace. That should warm you up."

"W-We're t-t-tracking water...all...through the house," she complained as he jogged over to the fireplace and lit it. Once it was burning, he made her stand in front of it, all while hearing her soft chuckle. Damon smiled.

"That should've been the best date of your life. If it hadn't rained," he added. She grinned and shook her head.

"It was perfect, even with the rain. W-Who knew you could be a such a romantic?"

"You did." He leaned forward and kissed her. "And you know it."

"Mm. You're right. I did know it." She looked over at the fireplace in thought, and Damon watched as her face fell from a small smile to a hard line as she had her thinking look on. He waited, curious when she turned back at him with her lip between her teeth and her eyes erratic on his. Hesitantly, she stepped forward and placed her hand right on his heart, surprising Damon, but he didn't move. She looked down and swallowed thickly before catching his eyes. "Will you still love me if I don't have a heart that beats?"

Damon paused. "What are you talking about? You're always gonna have a heart that beats, Madeline."

She shook her head. "We don't know that. No one knows that. In our lives, anyone could turn into a vampire. Besides, don't you want me to turn?"

He thought about it carefully and, after a while, nodded. "Yes. I do want that. But you don't." Damon pushed her wet hair out of her eyes and let his hand cup the side of her face. "And it's okay."

"But what if I do want it?" she asked suddenly, taking him slightly by surprise. Immediately, she elaborated. "I mean...not right now, obviously. And...and I know everything I've said about becoming a vampire. I know I don't want to be one I just...there's a part of me that wants this to last forever. Maybe being a vampire wouldn't be so bad if I had you."

"You'll always have me, whether or not you become a vampire." But his eyes sparkled with hope. He could see her shielded eyes, and quickly, Damon leaned down and kissed her passionately, wrapping his arms around her as she kissed him back, equally as loving. The cold faded away, and all that was left was the warmth of their lips and the glowing fire beside them.

The song in the middle of the chapter when Mads and Damon are dancing is Kiss Me by Jason Walker (it's a cover originally sung by Sixpence None The Richer). Since Delena got to have their own throwback song, I thought I'd put that one in and make a sidenote down here that, if we were in fact in the show, it would be the throwback song to the night on the porch step at the end of Season 1. But that's just the romantic in me.

Thanks for reading! Review, please!

Adela: Mads and Damon will have a very complicated, yet fun time finding their way back to each other, don't worry. I already have a plan set in motion that will involve an extra chapter in the middle of Season 6, but that's if all goes well for the rest of the season. As for Audrey and Stefan, the scene in this chapter was to indirectly say that Stefan is still in love with her but is willing to let her go, and Audrey feels the same way, she just believes that being with Matt is a better fit for her. But they will find their way back to each other, too, don't worry. In time, of course. Thanks for the review!

LovelyBlue99: HERE'S THE UPDATE. THANK YOU SO MUCH. I DON'T KNOW WHY WE'RE SCREAMING IN ALL CAPS :)

grapejuice101: Haha this update wasn't so quick but at least it's up there! Thanks for the review!

SomebodyWhoCares: Of course. It's always Elena's fault! :P

Guest: I would if I had any idea what Skins is...sorry.

beth: I think I might write about Audrey and Matt in the next chapter actually now that she's told Stefan she wants to be with Matt. They'll probably be at the Thanksgiving dinner or something and when Stefan crashes at the end, Matt will probably be there after she talks to Stefan. We'll see. Since this story was originally in 1st person I kind of dread going out of it because that means so much more writing and the chapters are already so long...anyways, thanks for reviewing!

Rebel royal: Here you go!

beth: Here's the update!

TVshowsManiac: Update's right here. Hope you enjoyed!