I meant to update yesterday seeing as I promised farmgirl4life. Being sick though, I fell asleep without a care in the world. I hope you enjoy this chapter. A lot of writer's block was hindering me early yesterday but today the words just flew onto the page. This chapter is dedicated to farmgirl4life and fytvdok who constantly review and message me. Thanks. I love hearing your thoughts and opinions. Hope you all review for this one. The alerts and reviews keep me going.

Elena sat in her bed waiting on someone to call so she could have something to do and leave the house. Waiting for someone had always annoyed Elena. She was impatient most days. She had been on edge lately. Jeremy almost found out Damon had slept over when Katherine went out with Caroline. Of course, they hadn't slept together but Jeremy would think they had been sneaking around behind his back. He hated a liar which was ironic; his entire persona was a lie. Kat and her big mouth was squealing about him staying the night when Jer came around the corner. Her twin quickly made it seem like Stefan stayed over and Elena had sighed in relief. Elena lied back and her head went into her collection of stuffed animals. She reached above her head and grabbed the animals her head hit. One was a large Woodstock, the bird from the cartoon Charlie Brown. Elena had loved the show when she was little. For some reason the friendship between the bird and dog, Snoopy, had always fascinated her. She remembered Jeremy bringing it to her when she was six for no apparent reason. She had hugged him and brought him his favorite candy for months. The second stuffed animal was a gigantic baby Taz, the Tasmanian Devil from the Looney Tunes. Stefan won it for her at Six Flags in Georgia. Elena had cried because she could not shoot the ball into the basketball without missing. Her best friend could not stand to see her cry so he played for her and won it. That was when the two became inseparable. The third stuffed animal made her take a deep breath. It was from the Mystic Falls Festival. It was three days of parades, carnivals, and water fun. It was held right before the school year started every year. Elena was ten when she had obtained the toy. Jeremy and Damon were both going through their no younger siblings phase. Elena's mother had left around this time three years before so Jeremy took her and Katherine because her father had to work. The memory was pressed into Elena's memory for some odd reason. Maybe it was because her crush on Damon started that day. The girls had gone off with Caroline and Bonnie. Somehow Elena got separated from the quartet. She did not want to be there anyway since her mother had always taken the girls and she just wanted to forget about her mom. She had not been to the carnival since she was seven but her father insisted they go. She did not want anyone to ask if she needed help seeing as how everyone in Mystic Falls knew one another. She walked around as if she knew where she was going.

Flashback

Elena was trying to keep the tears from falling out of her eyes. They stung but she held them in firmly. She was lost and the first thing to come to her mind was to look for her mom. She quickly shook that thought out of her head. 'So what Mommy, no her name is Miranda, left', Elena thought to herself. Elena walked through the crowd trying to find her sister and best friends. She did not need Jeremy to find her so she would get in trouble. Suddenly she spotted Damon wearing all black again; talking to a girl named Amber who she knew was only two years older than her. She didn't want to interrupt whatever was going on. The girl obviously liked Damon. Elena could tell by the way she kept twirling her hair on her index finger. Katherine always did that with Stefan. She turned to leave when she heard someone call out her name. She turned around to see Damon alone and smirking in her direction. She stalked over to him slowly.

"Hey Damon." Elena said quietly.

"Where are your crazy twin and the posse?" Damon questioned her.

"Umm … I don't know. We got separated." Elena said with a weak smile.

"Want me to get Jer?" Damon asked her with a worried expression.

Elena's eyes widened as she shook her head no with an insistent "no" coming from her mouth.

"Jer will kill me. He doesn't want me around anymore. I'm not cool enough." Elena said.

Damon laughed taking in her appearance. Elena was tall for ten; she was as tall as some of the girls in the seventh grade.

"Come on. You can hang out with me. I'll tell Jer you ditched your crazy twin and company."

Elena smiled as she and Damon started walking toward the booths. The two went on all the rides and the giant Ferris wheel. Damon brought Elena a funnel cake which she devoured after three hours of no kind of snack. Finally they stopped at a bottle toss game. There were so many stuffed animals as prizes and Elena's smile grew. She loved stuffed animals.

"Do you want one?" Damon asked her, pulling money from his pants.

Elena nodded her head in excitement. She watched as Damon paid the man and was handed his rings. He tossed the rings effortlessly. Elena watched Damon in awe. Her stomach fluttered and she held it curiously. She had heard Katherine and Caroline talking about butterflies in their stomachs. Katherine had whispered that Stefan was the one who gave her the butterflies. 'Are these butterflies', Elena thought as she looked down at her stomach.

"We have a winner!" Mr. Louis, one of her father's friends, exclaimed.

Elena looked up to see Damon telling the man what to give him. Mr. Louis handed Damon a black crow stuffed animal. Elena titled her head in confusion. Why would anyone want a crow? Damon turned back to her and held out the stuffed animal.

"It's my favorite animal." Damon told her.

Elena smiled, accepting it with wide eyes.

"What's your middle name?" She suddenly asked him.

Damon looked down at her with a perplexed expression.

"No one except my Dad, Stefan and Lia will know that. It's weird." Damon told her with his infamous smirk.

"I guess I'll just name him Dammy then." Elena said shrugging her shoulders.

"You're naming your stuffed animal Dammy?" Damon asked.

"Yes I am. You won't tell me your middle name so I'll just use your first one and make it cute." Elena said.

"My name is cute just the way it is."

"Well I made it better." Elena insisted with a smile.

She watched as Damon looked at her in confusion. He just smiled and swung his arm around her shoulders. The flutters in her stomach returned and Elena tried to contain the smile that was growing on her face.

"Lena!" A voice called out.

Damon and Elena both turned to see Jeremy walking toward them. His face was blank of emotion. He looked back and forth between Elena and Damon. His eyes rested on Damon's arm which Damon took from around Elena's arms. He looked down at the stuffed animal in Elena's arms then back to her face.

"Elena you're supposed to be with your sister." Was all he said.

Elena just looked down at her feet.

"I thought we talked about this. Stay with Kat and your friends." Jeremy said.

Though his words did not seem harsh, his tone was. Elena could feel her lip quivering as she tried not to cry.

"Relax man. Elena was bored with them. I told her she could hang with me. I promised her rides and funnel cake. I even won her a prize. She just wanted some fun." Damon said with a nonchalant tone.

Elena looked up to her savior and a smile started to pull at the corner of her lips. Jeremy did not look up at his friend as he spoke. His gaze never left Elena's.

"Is that true Elena?" Jeremy questioned.

"Yes Jer. I'm not five. I won't just wander off." Elena lied with a dramatic roll of her eyes.

"Alright. Well it's ten so we have to go. I don't want Dad to yell at me for keeping you two out late."

Elena nodded as she spotted Katherine talking with their friends at one of the picnic tables. Jeremy nodded, hurrying back to the table. Elena turned to Damon.

"Thanks Dammy." Elena said before she kissed him on the cheek.

She saw Damon's face go red as she pulled back and smiled. He cleared his throat and just smiled down at her.

"You better get over to Jer. Don't want to get in trouble."

Elena giggled before she turned and walked off toward her family. She clutched the crow to her chest as she approached the table.

Elena found herself doing the exact same thing as she had done all those years ago. She recalled calling Damon "Dammy" for weeks after he got her that crow. She thought back to when she found out about him and Isobel. Why had she never thrown away the crow? She had torn pages from her journal that were about him. She had torn apart pictures of them at the water hole. Why had she never gotten rid of this? She did not even remember thinking about throwing it out. Elena sighed. Elena heard a vibration from her night stand. She looked over to see her phone lighting up. She sat up and saw it was Damon's name with a picture of him showing on her screen. She quickly answered it.

"Hello?"

"Are you with your sister?" He asked.

"No. I'm at home … all alone. Kat is at your house with Stefan. Dad is at a conference in D.C. and he'll be gone for another week. Jer is gone, maybe at Bonnie's. He had an overnight bag." I explained.

"Jer went to Florida." Damon said.

'What the hell was he doing in Florida?' Elena thought.

"He's taking Klaus to Disney Land. Mani and her daughter Mia went too. Clark and his two kids are down there already waiting on them. I'm pretty sure Logan went too with his girlfriend and her son." Damon explained.

"Oh."

"Can I sleep over?" Damon asked.

Elena furrowed her brow. Damon wanted to see her. She wanted to see him too. It was just being alone with him for a night. No one would be home.

"Sure."

"I'll be there in five. Bye love." He said before hanging up.

Elena's heart started pounding out of her chest as reality set in and she realized Damon was going to sleep over. What the hell was wrong with her? Why had she said yes? Wasn't she supposed to be keeping them stuck in the friend zone despite her growing feelings? Maybe she could. Tonight was like a sleepover with Stefan … except she didn't want to jump Stefan and lick every inch of him. Elena was so deep in thought trying to wrap her head around Damon sleeping here with no one else in the house that she jumped when the doorbell rang loudly through the house. She hastily made her way down the main hallway, tore the steps, ran through the large passage way and wrenched open the door. Damon stood in front of her with his black leather jacket on and his notorious smirk. He smiled upon seeing her face and walked into the house.

"Are you hungry?" Elena asked, shutting the front door.

"Do you have pasta?" Damon asked as he watched her walk up to him.

Elena nodded her head in confirmation. She stood in front of him, neither saying a word. They just stared at one another. Damon broke their eye connection first. He just grabbed her hand and led her to the kitchen. The two ate in silence, just staring at one another occasionally. By the time it was ten they were heading up to her room. Damon threw his bag in the chair in front of her desk as he stripped away his shoes and jacket. Elena watched him as his muscles moved through the black shirt. She loved him in black. It was really the only color he wore except for special occasions. He smiled at her as he climbed into her bed. She put in 'Fast and Furious Five' into the DVD player before joining him on her bed. They watched the movie in silence. She sat in between his legs while he had his arms around her.

"Did you sleep with Elijah?"

Elena froze as the words spilled out of his mouth. 'Did he really just ask me that?' Elena slowly turned to look at him. He was leaning back with indifference and his face showed no emotions. However his eyes looked like a storm was about to ensue.

"Why are you asking me this?"

"I ran into Elijah and Vickie when I was with Jeremy. Afterward Jer wouldn't quit saying he thought you were lying." Damon told her.

"It was my condom Damon. I think we both know that." Elena said with a solemn face.

"Yea but why would there be a rumor if-"

Elena laughed. She actually laughed. Did he really want to get into rumors when they were having a good night? She brushed off her immediate anger.

"It was just a rumor God! Look Elijah needed his mom to think we were dating. She didn't want him with Vickie. Because were such good friends, I helped them sneak around. Eli and I did hang out so people thought we were together. The sleeping together part is a mystery to me in itself." Elena explained.

"Okay." Damon said as if the conversation was over.

"Do you believe me?" Elena asked.

"Yea. You don't have any reason to lie. Everyone found about Elijah and Vickie anyway so it makes since. I just wanted to know the truth for myself, not that I believed it anyway."

Elena nodded her head and turned back around. As she leaned into his chest, she had the urge to ask him about the rumor about him and Isobel. NO harm in asking right. Just as she opened her mouth, her phone vibrated in her pocket. She fished it out to see a text from Katherine.

Stefan said Damon went to our house. Have fun with your bad boy. It should be a good night. –Kat

Elena smiled to herself as she texted her twin back. She decided she would ask him another time. Why ruin their perfect night with an argument she knew was bound to happen? Tonight would just be about being together. The drama could wait.

:) Did you love it? Hmm ... did you? -Nee