It had to be near three o'clock in the morning when Elena opened her eyes. She was nearly falling out of her bed, with Caroline wedged between her and Bonnie. They had stayed up until past midnight, gossiping and giggling about their new love lives. Apparently, Bonnie had some kind of secret admirer who was sending her flowers every Friday at her mom's house. Caroline, on the other hand, had spent a good hour and a half telling them every romantic detail about her trip around the world with Klaus; Elena still couldn't believe how much he had changed just because of one girl. Then, of course, they had started in on her about Damon. Of course, she couldn't deny it anymore; they had been watching from the woods when she tried to rip his clothes off on their picnic blanket.

"When did it happen?" Caroline asked eagerly. "When did you finally admit to yourself that you love him?"

Elena sighed. "Honestly? It… it was yesterday."

Caroline and Bonnie had stopped beaming to frown in confusion at Elena.

"Yesterday?" Caroline asked. "You're kidding, right?"

Elena laughed with no humor. "No. No, I've… been really awful to him since you all left. I guess I was angry that you all sort of abandoned me, and I would draw him close to me when I got lonely, only to push him away again. I was worse than Katherine, in a way, because I really did love him, but I was being selfish and not letting myself get close to him. I guess… I was afraid he would leave me, too, and I didn't want to get myself attached to anyone else."

Caroline laughed. "You were afraid of Damon leaving you? Elena, he's in love with you!"

"I know. I know he is… and I was an idiot. I finally realized just how horrible I was last night, and I called him to come over… and I told him I love him."

The girls were grinning again.

"So…" Bonnie urged. "What did you two do after that?"

"Nothing." Elena simply said, flopping back on her bed and hugging one of her throw pillows. "We talked, and he told me stories about his past, and then we fell asleep."

Caroline laughed. "Oh, come on Elena! You don't really expect us to believe that Damon Salvatore only talked with you after you told him you loved him."

Elena shrugged. "He's taking things slowly. I think he understands that… I'm afraid of getting hurt again. He doesn't want me to feel that way."

"Have you heard from him?" Bonnie asked cautiously. "From… Stefan?"

Elena snorted. "No. I don't want to hear from him, either. Honestly, I could care less if someone staked the both of them."

Caroline wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "He's an idiot."

Elena rolled her eyes. "I already established that; and I've moved on."

Bonnie raised an eyebrow. "Have you?"

Elena frowned. "What do you mean? Of course I have!"

"Really?" Caroline asked. "Because it's been years, and you haven't even slept with Damon yet. Years and you have failed to sleep with possibly the sexiest guy ever to enter Mystic Falls in the history of the town; literally."

"Caroline!" Bonnie laughed.

"What? It's true."

Bonnie raised an eyebrow.

Caroline rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on; Damon's sexy and you know it. He knows it. Maybe a bit too much…"

Both girls turned to Elena.

"Well?" Caroline asked.

Elena was frowning. "Can we just go to bed? Please?"

"Come on, Elena! I gave you all of my details…!"

"Please, Care? It's been a long night, and I'm tired. I just want to go to sleep."

Caroline frowned, but sighed. "Fine. But you're giving us answers tomorrow."

VvvvV

Now, Elena was sneaking out of her bedroom in the dark house and creeping over to Jeremy's old bedroom, where Damon had crashed after far too much drinking with Klaus and Matt. She quietly opened the door and snuck inside, shutting it behind her. As soon as it clicked shut, Damon stirred. "Who…?"

"It's just me."

"Oh."

She heard him flop back down into the pillows and chuckle. "Elena…"

She walked over to the bed and pulled back the covers, crawling in next to him. "Hey."

"What are you doing? I thought you were sleeping…" he shifted in the bed and ran a hand through his hair. "I was."

Elena grinned and moved closer to him, running her hand along his muscled bare chest. "I got lonely."

"Lonely?" Damon snorted. "I went to the trouble of bringing your two best friends home and you're trying to tell me you were lonely…?"

He trailed off when Elena kissed him, biting down on his lip. Damon moaned, "What are you doing…?"

"I told you…" she grinned, rolling over so she was poised on top of him. "I was lonely."

Damon raised an eyebrow, and happily accepted her next passionate kiss, holding her closer to him. She squealed in surprise when he was suddenly on top of her, kissing her hungrily. She moaned when he moved downward to kiss her neck, but Damon froze as her hands moved down his chest and began to unbutton his pants. "Whoa, whoa, whoa…" he said, panting.

"What?" Elena asked in confusion.

"What are you doing?" he asked her, and she looked at him like he had lost his mind.

"What does it look like I'm doing?"

"I know what it looks like, Elena," he said, moving so that he was sitting up on the bed. "But why are you doing it?"

She frowned. "Because I love you."

Damon shook his head. "You only told me that the other night. Now you're trying to sleep with me? Not that I'm against the idea, but… isn't that moving a little fast?"

She sat up. "Damon… you've been in love with me for over five years. It took me longer than that just to admit I love you, too. How is this moving too fast?"

"Because, Elena," Damon said, frowning. "This isn't the kind of relationship that you want right now. You and I both know that."

She frowned, shaking her head. "What are you talking about…?"

"Stefan cheated on you, Elena. He cheated on you with someone he loved in the 1920s. Then he ran away with her, and you haven't heard from him since. He hurt you. Despite what you're telling me right now… I know you're afraid that I'm going to hurt you, too. So, why are you trying to sleep with me?"

Elena's mouth was open, her eyes displaying shock and hurt at once. "I…"

"This isn't what you want, is it?" he asked her.

She bit down on her trembling lip and shook her head, fighting back the tears beginning to form in her eyes. "No… no, it isn't…"

Damon stroked her cheek. "Then tell me why you are, Elena."

A tear slid down her cheek, and her voice cracked when she answered. "Bonnie and Caroline… they were asking me why I hadn't slept with you yet. I… I couldn't answer them. It wasn't that I didn't want to… I didn't know what to tell them."

She looked up and met his eyes. "I didn't know why I hadn't slept with you yet. It would have made perfect sense for me to have jumped into bed with you as soon as he skipped town… I wanted nothing more than to hurt him. Than to make him feel how I felt… to make him feel… feel…"

"Betrayed?" Damon offered, and she nodded.

"Yes. Betrayed. But… I couldn't. I couldn't because I couldn't use you like that. I couldn't do it because I loved you, and I was so scared of losing you…"

Her tears were coming more rapidly now. "I was afraid you were going to leave me, just like the rest of them, and that I would be all alone…!"

"Hey…" Damon whispered, pulling her into his arms. "Hey… don't cry. You don't have to get upset, Elena. You did the right thing. Not just for me, but for you. Sleeping with me then would have only confused you more than you already were, and you would feel more hurt than ever. If anything, you would have pushed me away. I would never just leave you…"

"But I did push you away! I pushed you away and I didn't even sleep with you! Nothing makes any sense…!"

"Elena!" Damon said, frantically stroking her hair in attempt to calm her down. "You have no reason to be upset! Does it look like I'm going anywhere? No. So stop crying."

She bit down on her trembling lip as more tears continued to fall. "I'm sorry…"

"Stop apologising! We've already been through this; I'm not upset at you for how you acted. Elena, I'm just happy that you still speak to me at all! After everything I've ever done to you? The fact that you forgave me for all of that is enough to make me permanently stay by your side. I didn't deserve your forgiveness, but you gave me it. For you to think, even for one second, that I could ever leave you, or be upset with you over something like this… than you're insane."

A grin tugged at his lips and Elena laid her head on his chest, sniffling. "I don't deserve you…"

"Oh, stop it. That's enough, alright? You, Elena Gilbert, are going to walk out of this room, calm yourself down, and then you are going to come back in, perfectly happy, and we're going to act like this silly exchange never happened. Understand?"

She nodded. "Okay…"

He smiled. "Good. Now go."

Elena got to her feet and walked out of the room, shutting the door. Damon leaned against Jeremy's headboard and waited for a few minutes in the darkness. Finally, Elena entered again, more cautiously this time. "Can I come in?"

Damon grinned. "I don't know; do you think Jeremy would have a problem with us making out in his bedroom?"

Elena giggled and walked in, shutting the door and leaning against it. "You know," she said, "I never really gave you a proper thank you for what you did for me."

Damon sighed, grinning as he stood up and walked over to her, standing before her. "No thanks necessary, milady."

He bent with a flourish and took her hand, kissing it softly in a way that only an experienced gentleman would ever be able to do. Elena smiled. "It was amazing; to see them all again."

Damon laughed. "No, what are amazing were Caroline's gifts."

"Those were not gifts," Elena shook her head. "They were lottery prizes."

Damon chuckled. "So… just when are we going to use ours?"

Elena looked considering. "I really don't know."

"Well, I can say from experience that France is amazing. Not to mention, that pool they were talking about sounds more than inviting…"

Elena giggled when he placed his hands on the wall on either side of her. "I suppose it does."

"Once we get past the fact that Klaus probably screwed Caroline in every room, I think the entire place sounds… fabulous."

Elena sighed as he nuzzled her neck softly with his nose. "When do you want to go?"

"Soon," Damon said with his tone dead serious. "I've been in Mystic Falls for way to long. I need a change," he grinned, "So do you."

Elena grinned. "When do we leave?"

Damon kissed her cheek and she shivered at his breath in her ear. "I say we ditch this place as soon as your guests leave."

"Okay…" Elena said, her eye lids fluttering at his closeness. "I'm surprisingly okay with that."

He chuckled. "Perfect. Now…"

He nipped at her earlobe and she squeaked in shock.

"I think I want to kiss you until the sun rises."

Elena glanced at the electric clock across the room. "You're going to kiss me for two and a half hours?"

"Absolutely." Damon said, pulling her closer to him.

"Good," she grinned, tilting her head up and shutting her eyes. "Start now."

I'm not sure if I like the flow of this chapter… I wrote it really late. Opinions?- Charlie'sLostVampire