Author's note: Well, it's been a nice break, but I've gone back on deadline a week earlier than I expected. Rather than make y'all wait till March for this story to wrap up (especially since I know what's coming), I've decided to do a time jump. Hope y'all don't mind. Thanks so much for all your reviews. I'm trying to catch up right now. I appreciate all of them so much. I hope to have responded to everyone by Friday.
Warnings: Mature – character death, adult content, violence, language, cliffhanger ahoy
March 14
Elena tied the scarf around her neck and hurried around the bedroom. She couldn't believe she'd let herself be talked into this, although she didn't really have a choice. Last night, when they were making last-minute plans for tonight, Caroline decided they needed a girls' afternoon to look for dresses for the upcoming dance. Elena tried to protest, but Damon said it would be a good idea for her to get out of the house.
She spent eight hours a day out of the house.
Something was definitely up, but she decided not to protest.
"Caroline's car's pulling up." Damon called out from somewhere on the first floor.
Elena slipped on her shoes. "I'm coming." She stood and kicked something under the edge of the bed. Scotch tape. She'd needed it for her history project the night before, and she'd wondered where it had gone. Apparently either she or Damon had kicked it under the bed when they'd made a little history of their own.
She reached down and grabbed the tape, hurrying into Damon's office. She tugged open the top drawer to return it to its place and froze.
In the center of the top drawer was an envelope that hadn't been there yesterday. Elena was neatly written in Damon's familiar handwriting on the front. The room swam around her and the tape fell out of her hand and bounced onto the floor.
He'd written her a letter.
A letter he hadn't told her about.
He'd placed it somewhere she'd easily find it.
"Elena?" His footsteps echoed through the quiet house. "Everything okay?"
She fought to steady her voice, but all she could think about was the sealed envelope in the drawer she'd just slid closed. "Everything's fine. I just decided to change clothes. Tell Caroline I'm on my way down."
"Elena, I'm going to need a little effort here. What do you think?" Caroline turned to the side as the peach silk swirled around her knees.
"I like the blue one better." Every time Elena closed her eyes, she saw the envelope in Damon's desk drawer.
Caroline frowned back at her from the mirror. "The dress we found for you was blue."
"But it doesn't fit." Elena loved the cornflower blue dress, that was true, but the size 5 prevented her from breathing while the size 9 practically fell off onto the floor.
Caroline placed a hand on her hip. "That's why we'll be going to a different store next weekend."
Elena leaned back against the wall in defeat. "If any of us are here next weekend."
Caroline whirled around. "Elena Gilbert. You do still go by Gilbert, right?"
"I'm not married to Damon."
"You might as well be." Caroline rolled her eyes. "If we stopped living every time there was some unbelievable supernatural creature threatening to end life as we knew it." Caroline spoke in a stage whisper. "Well, things around here would have been pretty boring over the last two years." She grabbed Elena's hand and pulled her to her feet. "Now, you still have the purple one and the turquoise one to try on." She glanced at her watch. "And we're not leaving here till I see them."
Elena walked into the dressing room door after giving Caroline a mock salute. Caroline had a point. Elena had lost count of the times she'd almost died during her last two years of high school, and, of course, there was that pesky time she really did die.
Now she stood in a dressing room trying on maternity dresses for the spring fling dance. There was something more than just a little surreal about that. She took the first dress off the hanger. The dress wasn't exactly purple, more like eggplant. The ruched fabric had a slight sparkle to it that made it seem even fancier than might be appropriate for the dance. When she slid it over her head, the plunging neckline accentuated the fact that her pregnancy was progressing very well.
"Let's see it." Caroline tapped on the dressing room door.
Elena stepped out and grinned at Caroline's wide-eyed appreciation.
"I don't know if Damon would be able to let you out of the house like that." Caroline raised an eyebrow. "Seriously." Caroline stared at Elena's chest.
"Isn't that how she got that way?" An unfamiliar elderly shopper wrinkled her nose in distaste and frowned like she was sucking on a lemon.
Elena's mood crashed back down to earth. "Maybe I'll try the other one."
"No." Caroline followed Elena back into the dressing room. "Don't let that old bitty bother you."
"Caroline, I get slut shamed almost every day." Elena's lower lip trembled. "It just happens."
"Well, you shouldn't let it. The next time someone says anything, you need to compel them that they'd look better if they gained thirty pounds."
"Caroline!" Elena took a step back from her friend in surprise.
"Weren't you wondering why Mrs. Padgett suddenly looks like she's about to have twins?" Caroline's lips turned up in glee. "She smarted off about Matt not being able to afford a coat back in January."
"And so you compelled her?"
"I'm not ashamed." Caroline giggled, but then her face fell. "But that doesn't really make it better, does it?" She studied Elena's expression, realizing any of the afternoon's fun was at an end. "Come on, I'll take you home."
Elena placed her solitary shopping bag on the wing chair in the living room, wondering how long Damon would let the bag stay in the room before whisking it away to her closet. She laughed softly to herself and sniffed. Definitely Italian. She'd wondered if Caroline was working for Damon, since she'd checked her watch no fewer than ten times during their outing. When it was finally six o'clock, Caroline seemed visibly relieved as they walked to the car.
"Damon?" Elena peered around the doorway into the kitchen. A cluster of candles glowed warmly from the center of the blood-red tablecloth.
"Just in time." Damon backed away from the oven holding a clear dish. "Of course, I'd told the Mystic Queen what time I needed you back."
Elena laughed again. So Caroline really had been given instructions by Damon. She raised onto her toes and peeked at the food he was placing on the china plates. "Chicken parmesan?"
Damon nodded, pretending like this was any other Friday night when he just happened to make her a special candlelight dinner. "Jeremy told me it was your favorite."
"It is." She forced a smile. So they were going to play it this way. No long, drawn-out goodbyes…..at least not for now. Just another typical night in Mystic Falls, while the clock sped all too quickly toward ten o'clock. Of course, since the last two years had basically been one long threat against Elena's life – or unlife – it really was just another Friday night.
"After you." Damon acted the part of the perfect gentleman as he pulled her chair back from the table and waited for her to take her seat. "No wine for you." He grinned and winked. "So I made the sweet tea just the way you like it."
"Meredith won't be happy."
"What your doctor doesn't know won't hurt her." Damon winked and brought Elena her plate.
Chicken parmesan, Caesar salad, and the homemade garlic bread she loved. No wonder Caroline insisted they visit those last two shops. Damon might have been blessed with vampire speed, but he couldn't make the oven cook any faster.
Damon poured himself a glass of wine before placing his cloth napkin on his lap. "Did you find a dress?"
"I didn't, but Caroline did."
Damon nodded, taking a bite of his salad. "Did you not find one you liked?"
Elena shrugged. "There was a blue one, but they didn't have the right size." Amid all the small talk, it hit her….Damon's absolute avoidance of the elephant in the room.
No "when we get through this….."
No "we'll always survive."
Instead, they were talking about her afternoon with Caroline, and the impact of that knowledge weighed down on her like lead in her stomach.
At his encouraging glance, she sliced a piece of chicken and took a bite. Any other day, she'd be amazed – it was that good. The tomato was perfectly balanced by hints of oregano and other spices. It had just enough cheese without allowing it to overwhelm the breaded chicken. "This is really good. Better than Stefan's." She finally managed the compliment.
"That's not the only thing of mine that's better than Stefan's." He raised his eyebrows suggestively, and Elena realized something else. The house was quiet.
"Where are they?" Elena pivoted in her seat and strained to hear any other noise in the house. Katherine was normally around. She could never get quite enough satisfaction from needling Elena. And Stefan was normally lurking just out of sight. Unless they were – occupied.
Damon took a sip from his glass. "They decided to leave for the rest of the evening."
Silence fell between them as Elena tried to play along, but Damon had always been better at pretending like nothing was wrong than she was. Each time she swallowed, her throat threatened to close with emotion. Eating simply wasn't going to happen tonight - no matter the effort Damon had put into the meal. Elena gave up on the attempt to choke down the meal. Damon's eyes followed the path of her fork to her plate. She must have given some sign of surrender – even if she didn't know what it was. Because before she even had time to register the fact that he'd moved from his place next to her, he'd lifted her from her chair and attacked her with a hunger that suggested they hadn't been together hundreds of other times.
As his fingers tangled through her hair, his lips were filled with the hungry desperation of their first time. Without giving her a chance to catch her breath, his hands were under her pockets, lifting her legs to his waist. She leaned into him, wrapping her arms around his neck and clinging to him as if she never wanted to let go.
His lips never leaving hers, he sped up the stairs, and soon she felt the familiar coolness of his sheets beneath her back. But the sheets were the only thing that were cool in the room.
As he broke away from her to tear her blouse off her, his eyes blazed with a white hot intensity. He rolled her onto her stomach while sliding her panties and jeans off her legs in one smooth motion. She turned her head as he lowered himself next to her on the bed – somewhere along the way, he'd gotten rid of his clothes. Damn, he was good.
Damon kissed the back of her knees while he kneaded her thighs with his hands. They'd already memorized every part of each other, but he tenderly kissed every inch of her skin as if he were learning her body for the very first time. He raised her onto her knees and pulled her back against his chest.
She felt his hardness pressing into her back, the cool wetness tracing a path down her ass signaled just how ready for her he was. But he waited. Instead of plunging into her, she shuddered as his teeth nipped at the juncture of her neck and her collarbone. He hadn't fed from her since they'd learned about the baby.
But tonight, he wasn't simply feeding. She could sense his desperation as his fangs plunged into her skin. She shuddered at both the feeling that washed over her combined with the knowledge of what was about to come. As he drank, he moaned in pure male satisfaction. His palms cupped her breasts as he pulled her tighter and closer into him. He drank until a wave of euphoria washed over both of them.
And then he couldn't wait any longer.
Elena held her breath as he spun her around and pressed her into the bed with a bruising gentleness. She opened herself to him, and he didn't deny her. Sliding into her, she was filled with him. They fit together like two pieces of a puzzle – neither one complete without the other.
He pressed into her with excruciating slowness.
Damon was doing this on purpose, drawing the moment out, tantalizing her with the merest hint of what was to come.
She felt every millimeter of him as he drew out his thrust – his eyes locked on hers. As his hips met hers, she couldn't help it. She squeezed her eyes closed and buried her head into his shoulder.
"I want to see your eyes." His words surprised her. Damon never spoke while they made love….but Elena knew this wasn't just any day, no matter how hard they were both trying to ignore the unseen timer ticking away at the last minutes.
She forced her eyes open, surprised at the wetness on her cheek. She gazed up into his face. And realized the tears weren't hers.
As the intensity between them built like the promise of a gathering storm, Damon couldn't hold back any longer, and he unleashed the full intensity of his desire for her.
Once.
Twice.
Three times he plunged into her before he shuddered and froze just as a wave of indescribable pleasure washed over Elena. He smiled down at her, giving her the uneven grin she loved best. Both participants panting and spent, Elena found her voice first. "I love you."
Damon rolled onto his side and cupped her cheek with his hand. "You have no idea how much I love you." His voice coarse with emotion, Elena watched as he shifted against the pillow. "Which is why I have to do this."
A sharp pain stabbed at her arm as if she'd just been stung by a bee. The edges of the world around her instantly clouded, but the look of intense grief on Damon's face was the last thing she saw before everything went dark.