A/n- Hello my darlings! So this is your second to last chapter and I am honestly excited to see how all of you react to it (and trust me I really really want to hear those reactions through reviews *nudge nudge wink wink*) As always thank you to every single one of you that reviewed, favorited, followed and just straight up read this story: it makes me feel amazing to know that people have enjoyed it as much as I have. So after this there is one more chapter and an epilogue left- I should have the first chapter of my new story posted as soon as I post the epilogue to not give you guys as much of a wait between them. The songs for this chapter are:

Sleep Well, My Angel- We are the fallen

Smother Me- The Used

Your song

Chapter 11

Elena groaned and stretched as she sat up in bed, silently vowing that she would never again take her home for granted. The small three bedroom house wasn't much but it was home, something that her parents had left her in their will and a place where she could relax and completely be herself. Rolling out of bed she padded across the carpet towards the bathroom, reaching for her toothbrush. She had been home for five days and already it felt like the horrors of touring had been nothing more than a very graphic nightmare. She wondered about Damon as she brushed her teeth, wondered if he hated her or if he understood why she had done what she did- what she felt had needed to be done. Jeremy was due to come home today and she was excited for that, the house feeling way to small with only her there and she wasn't liking the emptiness.

After washing her face and running a brush through her hair she trekked back into her bedroom and plopped on the edge of her bed, reaching for her phone. The LED at the top of the cell was blinking purple as she swiped in the passlock, an indication that she had missed a phone call and had a new voicemail. Scowling softly she clicked on the phone icon and swore when she realizing that it was Jeremy that had called. His voicemail was sweet short and to the point- he had just landed and would be home in a few hours. She sighed in relief, glad that nothing bad had happened, checked through the rest of her text messages and tossed her phone down on the bed next to her.

Being home felt like it was the best thing that she could have done. Already she felt nowhere near as stressed as she had been, not quite like she would break at any moment anymore. She swore softly when the doorbell rang, the shrill ring echoing through the house. Grumbling softly to herself she slowly walked across the room, yanked open her bedroom door and started down the stairs. She could see dark hair through the frosted glass on the front door but nothing that would tell her who it was, so taking a deep breath she flipped the lock and pulled open the door, her breath catching in her throat.

Damon looked nervous as he stood on her porch, his hands shoved into the pockets of his tight dark blue jeans. Elena swallowed and folded her arms across her chest, suddenly feeling self-conscious in her duck covered PJ's as Damon smiled at her.

"Hey Elena." He let out a slow breath and reached up to rake fingers through his already messy hair, "I know you said you needed time- so I gave you five days instead of taking off after you the second that I realized that you were gone, but I figured that it was time for us to talk." Elena swallowed again, her throat dry as she tried to process what he had said, her mind having gone blank the second that he started talking. He chuckled softly and nodded towards the back of the house. "Can I come in?" Nodding dumbly Elena stepped to the side and let him into her house, feeling a little shell shocked that he was even there in the first place. She followed him slowly, wondering why he had gone after her, as he lead her into the living room. He sprawled out on the couch, making himself at home, Elena perching herself on the edge of one of the chairs.

"What are you doing here Damon?" She finally questioned softly when she managed to find her voice. Damon straightened his posture a little, leaning forward to rest his arms on his legs as he regarded her from slightly lidded eyes.

"I told you, we need to talk." He shrugged and looked towards the kitchen before taking a slow breath and focusing back on her, "I know that you said that you needed time, I gave you time." Elena rang her hands in front of her, looking down at her feet as she struggled to find her words.

"When I said I needed time Damon I didn't mean a few days, I meant I actually would need a while to get my head on straight. I don't know what I am thinking or feeling really at his moment, it's just all so confusing." Chewing on her bottom lip she dared to look up him, half fearing what she would see when she did. "I just-" She began but Damon cut her off with a bitter laugh.

"It is what it is Elena. I lied to you, I get that I fucked up with that- but I also explained everything to you. I explained that she means nothing to me while you, you mean everything. I've apologized, I've begged and I'm done with it. Either you forgive me and we move on or you don't and we still move on because I won't grovel for the rest of my life over one stupid mistake." He spat out. Elena jumped to her feet, anger blooming across her features as she rounded on him.

"One stupid mistake?!" She snarled, advancing until she was toe to toe with Damon, who had stood up the moment that she did, "It was more than just a mistake Damon, you really, really hurt me!"

"I already said I was sorry," He reminded her, his voice rising just as hers had, the frustration visible with his every movement. "What more do you want from me?"

"You never did though," She said softly, the anger starting to leave her, "Never once have you actually said you were sorry about it Damon- it was always you were wrong or you that you handled it horribly, but never did you say that you were sorry about it." She sighed softly and looked down at her feet, "I cried over you Damon, more times than I could count, I felt unworthy, like I was nothing more than a game to you and I'm not okay with that. I want to fix things, I just don't know how. I don't know how to trust you again and I don't know how to get pass this."

"It will all come with time; you just have to give it a chance." He argued back.

"We can have all the time in the world and I still don't know if I am going to be able to trust you Damon. A broken trust is a hard thing to fix, I will probably always worry, always have that in the back of my mind..." Damon swore in his native Italian before he reached up and wound his fingers through her hair, pulling her close.

"Answer me this," he implored, his thumb stroking over her cheek, "Do you want to be with me?" Elena hesitated, biting down roughly on her bottom lip before she nodded. The corners of Damon's lips curled up in a smirk before he leaned down and pressed his lips firmly into hers, their second kiss ever that she felt all the way down to her toes. Whimpering softly she lifted up onto the balls of her feet so she could press her lips a little more into his, her arms curling around his neck. "That's the third time that you've run away from me Elena," He growled out after a particularly hard nip to her bottom lip that left her reeling, "Never again."

And then his lips sealed over hers again and she forgot: forgot all the problems and all the reasons that she shouldn't be doing that with him and just felt instead. Sure they hadn't really solved their fight, and she was sure there would be fights to come but at that moment she was just done fighting what she felt, done denying what she felt for him and they could work on the trust issue as they went- so long as they did it together that was all that mattered.