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I stood frozen for a moment, the only sounds in the cell being his raggedy breathing. His eyes were drooping shut again and the blood was falling drop by drop to the hard stone floor, staining it. Then he muttered something and I pulled myself together.

"You need to stay awake." I said, trying to sound a lot more confident than I felt as I strode up to him and examined the metal chains, only barely holding back the vomit. They seemed to operate on a clasp system – I would be able to open them but it sure as hell was going to hurt him.

Oh, who was I kidding – he was pretty badly hurt right now as well.

"I'm going to get you down from here." I told him, grabbing his chin and tilting his head up so his hazy eyes met mine. "But it's going to…well, it'll be painful. So brace yourself." He nodded slightly, and I hated that his head went limp as soon as I released it, but I didn't have time to focus on that.

"One…two…three." I quickly pushed the metal so the clasp was released from his right wrist with an awful ripping sound. He moaned and half fell to the ground, only held up by the clasp on the other chain, which was now causing him to bleed even more due to the pressure being put on his wrist. I hurried to it and gritted my teeth. "One…two…" "Just do it, Elena."

His voice startled me – it was hoarse and weak and soft but God, was it a silky purr as well. I quickly pushed the clasp and it released him with the same horrible ripping sound. He fell like an old rag doll to the blood splattered floor, lying motionless and I tossed the chains to the corner of the room before crouching down beside him.

He looked horrendous. His skin was pure white, as were his lips. His once blue eyes were practically black with hunger and thirst, and there was a sheen of sweat on his forehead. He was bleeding quite heavily too, something that was freaking me out a little bit. He looked so broken.

"Damon. Damon. Look at me."

His eyes flickered and he tilted his head with some effort so his eyes were bearing into mine. I caught a slight smile on his lips and he shook his head slightly.

"You always did broke the rules." He murmured and my heart sank a little bit when I realised that I had no idea – no memory – of what he was talking about. He was also seemingly able to read my mind however, because the next words that came from his mouth were "But you don't remember me, do you?"

I hesitated, before answering honestly. "I…I remember some of what happened. I know that we met and...I know that I loved you."

"I loved you." He replied immediately and I had to smile at how quickly his answer came – it was automatic. "But how do you know about all of this?"

"I wrote myself a letter." I said softly. "Before they took everything away – my memories – I guess. It was all in there. And when I saw you at the town centre – a few memories came back to me then."

"Ah yes, the town square. You looked like the perfect little governor's daughter, didn't you? All dressed up to the nines, in a pretty outfit and nice hair. Although I must admit – I like this new look a lot better."

I glanced down at my attire. I was blood splattered and dishevelled – not exactly glamorous. "You look like my little firecracker." He smiled, reading my mind again. Then he coughed, and the sound was such a raspy, hacking noise that all of my worry bubbled up again.

"What can I do to help you?" I asked, before realising what an idiot I sounded. "Blood. You need my blood."
However awful it may sound, the thought of letting him drink from me filled me with dread. Maybe I had done this before, but I wasn't really able to remember it. The idea of being bitten, and then have my blood sucked out of me wasn't exactly thrilling. But then I noticed him shaking his head, and indignation replaced the worry.

"Why not? You need it Damon. I know I'm not exactly wonderful looking right now but –"

I was cut off by his laughing, before it turned into a rasping cough again. "Well, you're still the argumentative woman I knew at least. You think I don't want your blood because you don't look nice? I can't drink from you Elena. The amount I need for me to get better will kill you if you don't have the necessary meds, and I'm not doing that. I'd never –" cough. "Hurt you."

I stared at him. "But…you'll die, Damon." I whispered in horror, and he shrugged.

"I've lived a good life. Yours, on the other hand, has barely started."

Tears were beginning to well up in my eyes and I blinked them away angrily, glaring down at him. "What are you talking about? You're not going to die Damon, I'm not going to let you –"

"Elena. Elena. Yes, you are. You're going to let me. But you? You're going to get out of this. And you're going to win. You'll have Stefan, and Caroline and all of them on your side. You can beat them all darling. You don't need me to do it for you."

"I'm not saving you because I need you to win!" I cried. "I'm saving you because I don't want you to die!"

"Darling, you don't remember me. For all you know, I'm an asshole."

I resisted the urge to slap him. "You're not. I wouldn't have fallen in love with you if you were!"

He smiled slightly, his eyelids drooping again. "But you don't remember me now firecracker. It'll be ok. You'll be ok without me."

I wasn't able to stop the tears that were rolling down my face now. "I want to get to know you Damon, after this whole thing is over." I begged, pushing his hair off his forehead. "Please, just drink from me. It'll help you."

He shook his head and a burst of anger shot through me. "How are you being so selfish?" I snapped. "I have what you need, just take it! I know you might be tired of this whole war, but that's not an excuse to just lie down and die, you coward!"

He coughed and immediately I felt guilty. "I'm so sorry." I whispered, a little horrified at myself. This man was dying and I was yelling at him? "Damon…you're not a coward. I'm so sorry. But I can't handle this, you can't die on me, not now. We're so close to winning, and saving everyone and you can be the governor again! All you need to do is drink from me and –" I kept rambling until he weakly grabbed my hand.

"Elena. I'm not going to. I'm not going to get better." He said gently, and I froze.

"But…I don't…I don't want you to die." I whispered, my voice cracking. "Please…don't...don't put yourself through all of this."

He smiled, and slowly reached up to wipe a tear off my cheek. "Just lie with me. If you don't mind." He said softly and I nodded, carefully turning myself so my back was pressed into the cold, damp stone and I was lined up perfectly with him. Now that I was even closer to him, I could hear his breathing was uneven and shallow.

"I'm so sorry that this happened to you."

The words slipped from my lips before I could stop them and I wanted to curse myself. It was all my fault that this had happened to him! He must hate me right now. He must have wished that he had never met this stupid human girl who had screwed up his perfect life and basically ensured his death. He would be crazy not to despise me with every fibre of his being.

I did anyway.

But he only touched my hair lightly. "I'm not. I'm not sorry for any of it Elena. Because if it hadn't happened, I wouldn't have met you."

I lifted my head to study his – his perfect jawline, his piercing blue eyes, and his raven black hair. Whatever happened, I needed to remember him, I needed to remember everything about him. His eyes caught mine and he held my gaze for a few moments.

"I love you." He murmured and tears welled up in my eyes, because I couldn't honestly say it back because I didn't know him. But I leaned down and lightly pressed my lips to his.

"Thank you for everything." I whispered against his lips and I could feel his smile.

"Anytime, darling."

Then his breathing slowed completely and when I raised my head, his eyes were shut and I felt my heart tear in two. But I wasn't able to cry – not yet anyway. Not properly. All I could manage to do was put my head lightly on his chest and squeeze my eyes shut, wondering if anything was ever going to feel ok again.

I must have dozed off because I was startled awake by a loud bang.

What the hell?

There was another bang, then another and another. I lifted my head slowly and glanced in annoyance at the door, prepared to scream at Alaric Saltzman if it was him who was daring to show his face. That was why the sight of my mother's face peering in startled me completely.

She was alone and still wearing the dress from the town square – why, I couldn't fathom. It was filthy now though – covered in dirt and mud. Her hair was straggly too, and she looked exhausted – and determined.

She banged again and I stood up with a glare, trying not to notice the fact that Damon wasn't breathing anymore.

"What do you want?" I hissed at her through the open panel in the door. She glanced behind me at Damon but I stood in her line of sight. "Are you here to yell at me too? Tell me what a traitor I am, what a disgrace I am because I did the right thing, because I made the right choice?"

Mom shook her head slowly. "Elena, I'm here to tell you that I'm sorry."

Her voice was hoarse and unsure and it caught me off guard. But I quickly regained my composure. "What the hell are you talking about –"

"I'm sorry that I haven't been the mother you needed me to be." She interrupted. "I should have been there Elena. I should have backed you up when you stood up to your father, and god, I should have stood up to that vampire when he came to bring you to the vampire's and I shouldn't have ever let what happened have happened."

I stared at her, what she was saying slowly sinking in. Then anger coursed through me again. "But you did, Mom. You let it all happen, and now I've been left not knowing who I am, what I've been doing for the past few months, why my father is a lunatic and why none of my family would help me when I needed it."

"I know. Trust me, I know. Your father has had me scared witless, and I thought that staying quiet would be the best thing for you, but I can't take it anymore. I'm not going to sit back and let them do what's wrong. I've left him."

Ok, that was a shock. My mother left my father? She could barely get through the day when he was at work – what the hell was she going to do if she wasn't married to him anymore?

"Well, good for you Mom." I said slowly. "But you leaving him doesn't get me out of this cell. So if that's all you came here to tell me, you can go now –"

I stopped when I heard her indignant snort. "You think I left before I could get the key?" She asked in disbelief, dangling a shiny key and I swear to you, a key has never looked so exciting.

"How did you know where I would be?" I asked in amazement, staring at it and she laughed, twisting it in the lock. The door opened with a creak and we stared at each other before I threw myself into her arms, hugging her tightly.

"Please. I've never seen a girl so in love, and even if you couldn't remember him, it wasn't too hard to guess that you would be with him."

I stepped back and glanced behind me at the lifeless body and my heart sank. "I…I think he's dead, Mom. If he's not right now, he will be soon." I whispered and she frowned.

"Well, he's had no blood. You don't have the bite marks so I'm guessing he won't drink from you. Luckily, I took a few of the spare blood transfusion bags from the house." She produced three pouches of a deep red liquid and while normally I would have vomited at the sight of blood, I grinned at her.

"You're the best." I told her as she handed them to me.

"No, I'm your Mom. It's our job to help you. And I'm tired of being too scared to do the right thing."

A noise came from the upper floor of the building and she glanced behind herself warily "Elena, I have to leave. Any chance you have of getting out will be gone if I stay. But I know you can do this baby. And I'm so sorry that it only took me till now to realise it."

"I love you."

The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them and I cringed, because I don't think I had ever said that to my mother. But she didn't look surprised or freaked out – she just smiled tearily. "I love you too sweetheart. I'll talk to you soon." She squeezed my hand and then she was gone. I heard her footsteps getting quieter and quieter until she eventually reached the big door and it slammed shut.

I took a deep breath and looked down at the sacks filled with the red liquid in my hands before turning to the vampire on the ground in front of me. "Time to save your ass, Damon Salvatore." I muttered, crouching down beside him and ripping the top off one of the blood bags. I pulled his jaw down so his mouth was open and hesitated for only a moment, before tipping a little bit of the blood into his mouth.

There was no response for a few moments and my heart felt like it was going to pound out of my chest but then slowly – oh so slowly – I saw his teeth sharpen into fangs and the veins around his eyes turn black. I held my breath and poured a little more down his throat, waiting for him to wake up. I couldn't exactly pour the whole lot down his throat – he would probably choke and I would become the first girl to kill somebody while saving them.

I continued on at a steady pace, bit by bit, trying not to think about the fact that this was blood I was holding. I came to the end of the first bag and sighed, looking down at him. I was beginning to feel a bit hopeless at this stage to be honest. Apart from making his teeth into fangs and his eyes black, there was no response whatsoever. I examined the empty plastic bag carefully, trying to read the date when suddenly it was yanked from my hands and a pair of black eyes were bearing into mine. I managed to stifle a scream as he pulled me up and pressed me against the wall.

"Darling, you better have more of that stuff or else I'm going to have to take it from you." He purred, his eyes feral. "I told you not to let me drink from you, or else I wouldn't be able to control myself, so consider this a life lesson –"

"Here!" I interrupted shakily, shoving the other two blood bags at him. He grinned at me, his sharp teeth glinting and then tore off the top of the sack. I watched, horrified, as he drank it hungrily, before starting on the next one with just as much venom as the second. Had I seen this side of him before? This vicious, out of control side? It was a little terrifying to be honest, and exactly how Dad had described these vampires to be. Had he been…right?

No. No. I was not going to think like that. Damon wasn't hurting me after all, and for heaven's sake, he was still alive! That was all that I cared about, right?

He eventually finished and tossed the bag carelessly to the corner before glancing at me. "Sorry." He said lightly and I shrugged.
"That's alright. I'm just glad you're alive –"

I was cut off when he suddenly hugged me. I froze for a moment before slowly wrapping my arms around his neck.

"Thank you." He murmured in my ear and I had to smile.

"I'm so glad you're ok." I whispered to him, squeezing my eyes shut, all previous horrors forgotten.

"Do you want to take back Mystic Falls?"

I pulled away, a grin spreading across my face.

"Let's do this."

Shorter chapter this time, I know, but so many of y'all wanted an update as soon as possible so here you go! I must dash, but thank you so much for all of your kind reviews and messages – they make my day!

Bye my darlings,

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