I'm back with an update! I hope you like it. This carries on from the last chapter of Damon finding Elena in the Lake House. Song is One Republic- Secrets. I apologise so much for the slow replies. I love writing this story and it will get finished, I promise you that. Thank you for reading.

Tell me what you want to hear,

Something that will light those ears,

I'm sick of all the insincere,

So I'm going to give all my secrets away.

The Lake House hadn't changed at all since my last adventure here. Everything was still in the same place with just a bit more dust to it than last time. Elena's grandfather's coats were still hung up on the door and her mother's perfume still lay on her dresser untouched. Her father's books were still in the little study that had been added for her father to have his alone time when he felt it was needed. I had never met her parents due to they wouldn't have approved of mine and Elena's relationship unlike her friends who believed she was so daring to be dating a collage guy. Bonnie was less supportive of Elena and me other than Caroline. I had met Bonnie once and she had despised me from the start though occasionally she had tried for Elena's sake.

The fire crackled away in the centre of the room just like it always had and Elena was in the kitchen getting us a bottle of beer each knowing that the conversation we were about to have we would need some alcohol beverages just to give us the courage to say it out loud and to hear things that we would rather not hear. This conversation would no doubt be risky for our relationship she could either say she didn't want to know or she could say she did. No matter what choice she made though she would have to explain what she meant at the dance and how she felt. To me is obvious that she cared for me but with Elena you never know what she was thinking with, it was either her head or her heart.

I heard the lid popping off the beer bottle and then the slamming of a drawer before Elena made her way back to the sofa were I was currently waiting for her. My leather jacket hung over the arm of the sofa next to me whilst my shoes lay on the matt next to the door which had been my suggestion not wanting to bring dirt into the Lake House. Elena smiled and handed me the bottle of the beer which I held in my hand tightly. She had replaced her t-shirt with a small purple vest top that hung low on her cleavage distracting me when my eyes trailed down her body. She had removed the hair tie that held her hair in a ponytail and let it fall down her shoulders like she usually had her hair. Elena took a sip of her bottle and curled up on the sofa before eyes met mine.

"How did you know to find me? I was hoping you would because we need to talk but how did you know?" She asked.

"You brought me here one weekend. You told your parents you and Caroline were having a girls night here together so she would allow you to come when really Caroline had stayed over Bonnie's for the weekend. It was your idea to come here. We both wanted to spend time together without getting interrupted." I took a swig of my beer before continuing. "It was the weekend I realised I loved you more than what I thought I did but I didn't tell you. I realised I loved you more than anything in existence that weekend. I just could never bring myself to tell you until the day I…"

"Compelled me to forget." She whispered as matter of fact like the whole thing was no big deal but her eyes gave her away. She didn't like what I had done to her. Neither of us did. "What happened that weekend?"

"You told me you loved me whenever you could. You made me watch chick flicks, I cooked you dinner and we went swimming at midnight in the lake. You pushed me in actually when I was taking off my clothes to go in. You then gave me a little strip tease before diving in yourself." I let out a nervous chuckle. Had I told her too much? Did she want to know anymore?

"So you were the unknown reason to why I was such a party girl back then." Elena said sarcastically, her eyes lit up laughter.

"Apparently so." I couldn't help but mirror the smile that was on her lips.

"So did we…uh…you know that night?" She asked, a blush creeping up on her cheeks.

"Oh yeah. I believe it was our record for one night. We didn't sleep just kept going all night and slept for the most part of the day." I smirked at the memory.

Elena's blush deep crimson and I swear all the blood from her body rushed to her face. She seemed highly embarrassed by the idea of us two having sex for the entire night but then again she couldn't remember how I used to drive her crazy with the simplest of touches back then. She didn't know that she had the exact same effect on me. Our love had been chaotic, passionate, demanding, consuming but most importantly it had been the best love that could ever exist in the world. It was epic. It was real. It was right. It was simply everything that we had both wanted from life.

"That's not true." She shook her head the ghost of a smirk on her face. "You're teasing me."

"Sounds just like the past except it was more of a moan back then."

I laughed loudly and almost choked on my beer. I loved teasing her. It was just something that we did to each other. I loved seeing her get mad because she looked so adorable and perfect that it was hard not to kiss her because of her pouting lips and just to get her to stop shouting. Teasing each other had been one of the easiest things in our relationship; everything had been easier with her I just made it difficult for the both of us. I had been the one who didn't want to communicate any feelings towards her and in the end I had been the one to more or less push her away. No one else could be blamed for the downfall of our relationship except me. I had been the one to run when things had got rough. I had destroyed my own happiness without even knowing so until now.

"What are you thinking about?" She asked, leaning towards me with her sorrowful brown eyes and her laughter disappearing.

"Honestly?" I asked her wanting to let everything be up to her from now on.

Elena gazed at me before coming to sit next to me on her knees, her eyes never leaving me. She smiled a little before placing a comforting hand onto my shoulder. She nodded softly to me but I couldn't continue because when I opened my mouth to speak nothing came out. Her eyes, her complete and utter faith in had me stuck. How could she not hate me? How could she trust me and believe I was telling her the truth when I could be easily fishing her more lies? How?

"Tell me." She breathed and her breathe warmed my cheek.

"You." I smiled softly at her like the answer was the most obvious thing in the world. Of course it was her. It's always been her.

"What about me?" She whispered.

She knew we were both swimming in dangerous waters. Stefan could walk through the door at any moment and catch us in this intimate position but she only moved closer. She didn't look to the floor like she usually did when I looked into her eyes. No, her eyes never left mine and somehow it was all the encouragement that I needed to continue talking. Elena knew that by asking me to talk about her she was willingly asking me to admit my feelings for her and what I honestly thought of her without having to worry about the boundaries that would usually follow afterwards.

"Why do you trust me because after everything I've done and confessed to you the last few days I would be running as fast as I can away from me. Yet here you are looking at me…like that and I can't begin to think why. You're so forgiven, so faithful and beautiful that you shouldn't be allowed to exist, Elena but you do." Her smile grew and her hand slid into mine, her warmth spreading through my veins at her touch. "You were made for me, Elena because without you I don't have a reason to be on this planet. You were made to keep me in place, to love me even when I deserve to be hated, to make sure I don't become the monster I was turned into and to show me that I'm worth it. Elena, you don't mean to do it but you prove to me every second that I'm worth loving and that I'm somebody's first choice. You don't realise but tonight at the dance you chose me and you wanted me to live, to keep fighting for you. You have no idea how much this meant to me. You've let me in tonight even when you have every single reason to push me away."

The words had come out in a rush but now that I had said them, I didn't doubt them or regret them. No I was right to have said them. A small embarrassed smile had formed on my lips as I glanced towards our hands that were still entwined together but I couldn't bring myself to look at her and see her reaction to my words. I had never spoken of my feelings much before and doing it now with Elena was something I was terrified of doing. What if she threw it back in my face? What if she didn't feel that strongly towards me? What if? That's all I could hear myself saying.

"Damon…" My name on her lips brought my eyes back to her and I could almost see tears in them. Had I moved her that much or I had just upset her because she hadn't wanted to hurt me? Out of my options the latter seemed the most likely. She smiled softly and her fingers squeezed my hand.

"I-I don't even know what to say." She laughed nervously. "There's something inside of me that just can't pull away from you. There's this connection that I've been feeling ever since I can remember and when you left I thought this void inside of me was from my parents' death and because I didn't love Matt but it was because I missed you. I couldn't cope without you. I needed you and you were gone. Then slowly I fell in love with Stefan and he helped fill the hole for a while but the more time I spent with you it just…disappeared. Right now, I can't feel it because you're here with me. It's crazy but right now all I can think of is you. You completely consume me, Damon. I've never felt that before and yes you're right tonight I chose you in my own way. It hurt too much, Damon to see you like that. I hate seeing you hurt and I had never felt so hopeless in all my life." She let go of my hands but her hand began to caress my cheek softly as she continued to speak, her words almost effortless as they continued to flow.

"Stay with me tonight, Damon. I need you to stay with me until we figure this out. I'm not leaving this Lake House until I remember. I want to remember what it was like to be loved by you, Damon because my body is practically screaming at me telling me I'm missing the way you would hold me in the nights. Everything inside me, Damon is telling me that I've never stopped loving you. Please, don't go." Her words were nothing but a whisper as if she could barely believe that she was saying them out loud.

I could barely believe the words she was saying. Elena wanted me to stay with her? Spend the night here? Alone with no interruptions from the outside world and everything it seemed to threaten us with? Did her confession mean that she still loved me? That she cared for me? What did it all mean? I had never questioned so much in my life like I had the last few weeks with Elena but all of it had to be on her terms. I couldn't take her thoughts, her feelings or anything else away not anymore. I couldn't bring myself to lose her again but still what did it all mean? It wasn't just her choice of words it was her actions, the way her hand caressed my cheek softly and the way her eyes would linger on mine before drifting towards my lips and back to my eyes. Her brown eyes were soft and full of longing but longing for what? A million questions but no answers.

"I love you, Elena." I whispered the words without thinking and my forehead pressed against hers. "I loved you ever since I first met you."

Elena closed her eyes and her breathing grew ragged whether it was because of me being so close to her or whether it was because of the information I didn't know. My heart prayed it was because of how I affected her when I was around her, how her eyes would stray to my lips or down my body and how her breathing would become more intense whenever I stood to close to her or touched her but I hadn't touched her like this ever since we had been together. I had been this close to her lips in so long and all I could think about was how they tasted if they were as sweet and pure as I remembered or whether my imagination had run wild. Unintentionally, I leaned in closer to her and my heart seemed to be hammering against my chest mirroring the sound of hers. Her eyes were wide but her lips were slightly parted causing me to wonder whether she wanted this or not. I didn't want to be rejected by her not after I had just opened my heart to her and practically gave her the key.

"Damon…" She breathed against my lips. "I can't." Her words were choked.

She turned her head away from me and I could see a tear rolling down her cheek. Why was she crying? Elena had a million reasons to cry, to be angry to feel any emotion that could lead to her crying but why was she crying after she had been the one to pull away from me? Her brown doe eyes turned back to face me and she wiped away her tears with her hand. She took a deep breath and slowly her tears stopped but her eyes remained glassy and red.

"I'm sorry." She choked. "I just-"

"It's okay, Elena." I smiled briefly at her before turning my head to face the fire in front of me. The flames crackling and washing away the darkness as they crept higher. "I actually get it."

Truthfully, I did get it. I understood that she couldn't just kiss me and expect everything to suddenly fall into place because kissing her would just give us more problems. Elena was with Stefan, my baby brother and here I was sat here getting ready to kiss his girl. A pretty special girl that had once belonged to me, a girl who I worshipped the ground she walked on and thanked God every day for creating her for me. She was perfect in every way and for a brief period she was mine and I was hers.

"I should probably go." I rose from the sofa and entangled myself from her not wanting to leave but figured it was the honourable thing to do.

"Stay." She whispered and I could see the shock in her eyes as she spoke unable to believe what she had just said. Elena nodded to herself telling herself this is what she wanted before speaking again also raising from the sofa and walking over to where I stood. "Stay with me? I don't want to be alone."

Now the honourable thing was to leave and just go, give her time to think and figure out what she wanted and needed from life. I should go back home to where Stefan was probably at home drowning his sorrows with either my liquor or the supply of blood bags realising he had embarrassed himself in front of the entire town by fighting with me tonight at the Lockwood Mansion. He wouldn't want to see me tonight or ever now that he knows about the relationship me and Elena had once shared. The selfish thing was to obey her request and stay with her knowing that so much could change between us in one night but when she looked at me with her eyes pleading me to stay how could I refuse?

"I'll stay." I whispered softly, a part of me wanting to go knowing it wasn't fair to my brother but it wasn't fair to leave Elena by herself. None of this was fair and everyone that got hurt in the process would be my fault. No one deserved this confusion especially her, my faithful Elena.

Elena smiled and took her hand in mine and led me towards the bedroom where she had slept since she was a little girl, where we had once had spent an entire day just kissing and touching each other unable to get enough of one another. It was the best memory I had ever had of us, it was beautiful and just loving just like her. Elena took a small breath and let go of my hand as she glanced towards her bed.

"Did we…here?" She asked biting on her lower lip unsure how to phrase the question.

"Remember the day and night I was telling you about? Yeah that was in this bed." I laughed, lighting the tension between us and to my surprise she laughed with me holding her face in her hands.

"I never even knew!" She laughed embarrassed. "You were a bad influence on me, Salvatore."

"You were the one who was insisting."

"This is so embarrassing." She whispered turning away from me blushing once again as her eyes drifted over to the bed.

I could see the shadow of doubt spread across her face pondering the question on whether or not we should stay in the same bed together. She nervously chewed her bottom lip with her teeth and run her fingers through her hair, the blush fading slightly. Her brown eyes remained fixed on the bed and then she looked at me a small smile on her face. Elena took a deep breath before walking over to me and taking my hand whilst taking another glance at the bed.

"I probably shouldn't be asking this and you can say no if you don't want to or that you think it will get you in trouble with Stefan but…um…Damon.." She mumbled nervously, continuing to babble on which was the cutest thing in the world and I couldn't help but smile. "Ah, Damon would you – only if you want to- would you…uh…stay with me tonight… like in my…"

"Elena." I said smiling down at her and taking both of her hands in mine. "I'm going to have to stop you there purely because you're going to give yourself a mental breakdown if you continue and my answer is…"

There was a moment of silence between us neither of us knowing what my answer would be. Did I betray Stefan and stay in the same bed as Elena? Was it taking advantage of Elena? Did she actually want this or did she feel like she had to ask me because I was there? It wouldn't be taking advantage of it though if she was asking me would it? A part of me knew that in some way or another it was a bad idea to say yes but the other part of me just wanted to spend as much time with her as I could before everything got so messed up. It wasn't my best decision but I wasn't known for making good ones.

"I'll stay with you." I smiled down at her.

"Then let's get to sleep."

This time, don't need another perfect lie

Don't care if critics ever jump in line

I'm gonna give all my secrets away

All my secrets away, all my secrets away

So what did you think? Did you enjoy? I hope you did. Thanks so much for reading this and next chapter Elena and Damon's relationship delevops more and you see more about the past. I have to go and have dinner so don't forget to review, thanks.

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Love, MidnightGirl467 XxX