Well, this is going to be the last chapter ever of Just A Memory and I want to thank every single one of you who reviewed, tweeted and put this story on alerts and favourite because you make me smile every time you do. I love you all so much and your dedication to this story has been more than I could ask for. I can't thank you enough!

The song is Trading Yesterday - May I

One more thing I will be writing an epilogue! WOOOP! All of you wanted one and I have the perfect one in mind so I am going to do it and hopefully have it posted sooner rather than later.

I can't thank you all enough , thank you!

All I want is to keep you safe from the cold...

to give you all that your heart needs the most.

Let me raise you up

Let me be your love

The love of my life was limp in my arms. Her brown hair was covering her face and her eyes were closed looking as though she was in a deep slumber but no, by my own selfishness she had been overwhelmed by the memories, the memories that I had taken away from her. I sighed; all this had been my fault. I brushed the hair out of her face and kissed her softly on the lips, the soft brush of lips against lips and held her tighter in my arms. The soft sound of her heart beating at the normal pace was the only comfort that I had in me that she was going to wake up soon and that she was going to be okay. Well, okay as a person can be who remembered her past that her so called love of her life had taken from her.

"I'm so sorry, Elena." I breathed against her forehead, picking her up in my arms as her head was pressed against the crook of my neck. All of this had been my fault because I hadn't done the right thing in the first place. I should have walked away from her, I should have never have pursued her. I shouldn't have done this to her. It wasn't right.

I sat down on the couch, the small fireplace crackling in the corner of the room. I held her in my arms and stared at the flames, admiring the way they would dance together and then join as one. There was a small breath against my throat and my body went rigid in my arms. Is this what she had felt like when I had woken up this morning after being staked by my own brother? She coughed against me and then there her arms reached around my neck and pulled me closer to her, my heart racing against my chest.

"Damon," She breathed, her lips touching my neck ever so lightly. I turned my head slowly not wanting to push her away or frighten her anyway. Our noses met and I could feel her breathing get faster, I could feel the goose bumps on her arms through her t-shirt and I could feel her heart pound against her chest against my own rebounding heart.

"Elena," I whispered back, my head tilting to the side. She was here in my arms, the girl I loved was in my arms, and all of her memories were back. I could almost feel the tears try to push through the barrier but I didn't let them through. I couldn't let her think I was upset about this because in truth I had never felt happier. I had never been happier than right now in this moment.

"I remember." She whispered against my lips, her breath hot and mixing with mine. Her one hand was slowly brushing against the back of my neck and meeting with the bottom strands of my hair. My one hand was resting on her hip, my thumb brushing soft circles against her shirt that creased with every wipe whilst the other was pressing on her back so her chest was pressed up against mine.

"I know." I smiled, still whispering because speaking too loudly wouldn't seem right for this moment between us. We needed it to be tender, to actually be worth something and we were so close to each other that we didn't need to speak loud. I closed my eyes remembering what my mother used to say that sometimes a whisper can hold so much more power than a shout. She had been right.

"It doesn't change anything." She said, arching her back and placing her other hand on my cheek. "I've never felt like this before. I love you, Damon."

I didn't say anything. I didn't know what to say. So we remained like that, our lips almost touching, our bodies one tangled pile of limbs, not quite knowing what to do with the close proximity. Her touch was sending my body on fire with the smallest and gentlest of touches, the connection between us burning and a grin spreading across both of our faces. How did I get here? How was this even possible after everything that I have done? Her smile grew as she came closer to me, a small gasp coming from her lips and I couldn't help but widen my own smile. How do you not smile when the love of your life is back in your arms despite everything that you've done? How can you not feel blessed? Even in my wildest of dreams I never would have thought she would be here with her arms around me and all of her memories back. The very idea of it had seemed too good to be true yet here we were.

"I remember everything about us." She whispered, almost as if she couldn't believe it herself. Her hands were now on my cheek, caressing me softly. "I love you so much."

"Elena," I swallowed thickly in my throat, my body tingling. "I need to know what you are choosing because right now all I can think about is touching you." I whispered, my thumb brushing ever so slightly over her hip. "Kissing you." My lips grazed against hers and I could feel her melting against me. "I want to make love to you, Elena. I want to be with you in every way that I can."

Elena didn't say anything but she leaned forward, her eyes wide open and staring into mine. Ever since any of this had happened all we had used was words to describe how we really felt, random blissful kisses at times, but we had never shown each other what we was feeling. The way Elena was looking at me right now described exactly what she was feeling, her eyes were filled with longing, love, desperation, lust, and the same emotions I knew were being shown in my own eyes. Still I needed her to say it to fully comprehend what was happening and what this could possibly mean for the both of us. I couldn't handle losing her again. Also, I didn't want to push her.

"Damon," She whispered, her voice holding the stubborn and determined tone that I loved hearing in her voice, it showed she was strong. "I want you, always and forever, okay? I can't go back to a life without you."

"You don't have to."

And, actually the prolonged distance between us was cut short. My lips desperately found hers, crashing against each other, my heart soaring in my chest at her being in my arms again, an emotion that I thought I would never be able to feel again. Hands were grasping whatever they could, the burning desire to just touch each other overwhelming us. It had been too long since this had happened. It had just been too long away from loving her.

"Elena," I mouthed against her lips before making a sweet trial of kisses down her neck, causing her to arch her body into me. "Upstairs."

She nodded sharply.

"Upstairs."

After a few hours, we woke up and headed downstairs, the soft crackle of the fire softened as the flames descended. There was the odd piece of clothing scattered in random places that caused a smug smirk to appear on my lips and giggle to emerge from Elena's. Her hand was in mine, her body wrapped in my black buttoned up shirt that could never look so good on someone else. My chest was bare for all I had on was my black jeans, my hair ruffled and messy from her pulling and tugging.

"I'm so glad I remember." Elena smiled at me. "I have never been so happy."

"Me either." I gently squeezed her hand as we both came to an abrupt spot in the centre of the room, the heat of the fire on our bare skin.

Elena's smile widened and she wrapped her arms around my neck, her eyes shining with adoration and love and it caused funny things to happen to my heart. I had never been like this before. I had never felt like this about anyone. I had never been so happy to just surround myself with one person not even with Katherine. I had never felt like this about anyone. There was no doubt in my mind that I had made the right choice by coming back to Mystic Falls and for Elena to finally find out the truth about everything that had happened between us.

"What does this mean?" Elena asked, her voice filled with concern as her brown eyes met with mine.

"It means that I am never ever letting you go again." I wrapped my arms around her waist and tugged her closer to me causing her to smile. "It means that we are going to spend the rest of our lives together and that I am always going to be by your side because I am not letting you go again. I'm not that much of an idiot."

Laughing, Elena kissed me before pulling away causing me to groan. I could see her eyes rest upon something behind me. I turned around following her gaze and my eyes rested on the black velvet diary that had held every memory that I had once took away from her but ones that she now remembered. I sighed, the diary bringing back painful memories of being without her and unknowingly my eyes seemed to look everywhere in the room other than at her. The nagging voice inside me once again telling me that I wasn't good enough for her and that I never would be.

After a few more moments, my eyes landed on her again and everything inside me tightened a little. She ran her fingers around the front of the cover and smiled sadly before turning it over in her hands. She lifted the diary up before opening it, the ribbon falling out over the edge of the cover. What was she doing? Did she want to remember the moments in the diary? I watched her carefully and she flipped through the pages of the diary, she was clearly looking for something. But what? As her hand flattened against the last few pages, her index finger pointing at the top line, everything inside me came to a halt as she began to read out loud.

"Dear Elena, the love of my life. You were the only person that saw the good in me, the only person that thought I was more than a monster when I didn't believe it myself. You were the only person in my life including my brother that actually tried to stay with me and encouraged me to the better man. And, the best thing was that you didn't give up on me and that's also one of the things that hurt the most because I didn't see it through. I gave up on myself when you had no intention of doing that and so I did something completely ridiculous.

I compelled you to forget me and everything that we had shared but you probably know that if you've already read the diary. But I write this letter to you because I needed you to know why I did what I did. So here it goes, I left you because I was giving myself way too much credit I thought I was no good for you and that I couldn't be the person that you wanted me to be. I couldn't be the better man and now I realise that by leaving you was the first step in becoming the 'better man.' Leaving you was the worst thing I have ever done and each day seeing you so happy and so content with my brother makes it so much harder to tell you because I don't want to end your happiness with him. There are even some moments when I think you two belong together but then I remember us and I can't help but think we were better, we were passionate and everything that both of us had ever wanted. Maybe that is wishful thinking but even in death that is what I will believe.

I love you, Elena Gilbert and nothing will ever stop me from loving you. And, if I am not here for you to speak to about this and you wish to get your memories back then there is one person that you can go to; Caroline. Caroline can remember and she can override the compulsion if you want her to but it will take great strength and it won't be easy. It's selfish of me to be jealous over the idea of Caroline giving you back the memories that you shared with me but it is what I chose for you." Elena sniffled, her brown doe eyes turning to me with a soft smile as she walked closer still reading out loud. "I chose this for the both of us. It was incredibly selfish but you have to know that I was only thinking I was doing the best for you."

I closed my eyes because I could remember what came next and it was my big declaration of love for her and the future that I had wanted for the both of us, it was my big confession. I walked closer to her and held her hand on the diary, my fingertips brushing against the soft scrawl of my own handwriting. Our eyes met and she leaned her head against my own just like we had done only a few hours ago.

"Just remember that the only reason I did this was to give you the future that you deserved, the life you had dreamed about for as long as you could remember. I wanted you to be able to go to the writing school in New York. I wanted you to become a journalist. I wanted you to have a husband, kids and the white picket fence. I wanted all of that for you. So that is why I feel incredibly selfish when I think of the future that we could have had together because in that I would have been happy but I am not entirely sure you would have been because you wouldn't have the children, you wouldn't be able to be a writer." I swallowed in my throat before continuing.

"If I had stayed, if I had tried a bit harder then maybe we wouldn't be worlds apart right now. Maybe we could have the future where you tell me that you want to be with me forever and become a vampire and then we would fight because I wouldn't want to wish this curse on you. Then you would win because there is nothing I could ever deny you but I would make you wait because despite what I said earlier I would make you go to the writers school, I would help you become a journalist and write your own novels because that is one dream that I refuse to take away from you. Then when you came back I would turn you as wished me to do and after a while I would ask you to marry me so then I could be with you forever in every way that I could. Hopefully, in my eyes, you would say yes and we would live forever like this just blissfully happy."

"Damon-"Elena interrupted but I shook my head.

"It's not finished yet." I told her, pointing down to the last paragraph of the letter. "I know this cannot happen now because I doubt I could ever tell you the truth and it kills me that I am still that man. I need you to know that you are the best influence on me and that no matter what you will always be the best thing that has happened to me. I love you and the memories in this diary will be the ones that I will look back on and think of with nothing but love and regret, regret that I let you go when we could have had more. You made me the better man.

P.S There's a necklace and an old photo of the both of us in a drawer in my room, Caroline knows. Never forget how much I love you and how much I hated myself for leaving you. Damon." I said bringing the letter to its end. I smiled at her softly and she smiled back at me, her face shimmering with tears.

"You thought of our future?" She asked, looking up into my eyes. "And you loved me that much to put everything else that I wanted above what you wanted?"

I nodded and wrapped my arms around her waist just feeling the overwhelming need to be close to her. I remembered writing those words and thinking that I would never have the chance to hold her and be with her again. I never thought that I would have a second chance.

"I am not condoning what you did because taking my memories was wrong." She nodded. "But I understand why you did it and the reasons why you did it wasn't selfish, Damon. You were being selfless when you compelled me to forget, I know it doesn't seem like it but it was. It was selfless. You just wanted me to have the best shot despite how much pain it caused you."

I didn't have time to process her words before she was ripping out the pages that the letter was on in the diary and putting them down on the armchair next to her. She picked up the diary in her hands flicking through the pages before disentangling herself from me and started walking towards the fire. Elena turned around and outstretched her hand, the flames descending into nothing. My feet took the necessary steps towards her and I took her hand, the curiosity of what she was doing burning through my veins.

"This diary holds every memory that I wrote down because I was scared that you was going to do exactly what you did, I was scared that I was going to forget everything so I wrote it down in more detail when I found out what you were." She pursed her lips. "The thing is I don't need this diary anymore because it holds all of our old memories, ones that I am not likely to forget anytime soon. I am not going to forget what I feel for you and all those moments that we shared. I love you so.." She gave the diary one last look before tossing it into the fire and I stared at open mouthed. What was she doing? I went to reach into the fire to pick up the diary that the flames were slowly twisting into burnt ash causing them to grow and burn brighter than they ever did before.

"New memories, Damon." She said, grabbing my arm and turning me to face her. Elena smiled up at me and I was wrong before, I had never seen her so content and happy than I had done in this moment. "Let's not keep going back to the past just to say the same things over and over again. I am done with that now. We made mistakes and now we move on. We make new memories."

"To new memories." I grinned, my heart bursting against my ribcage at how happy I felt.

My arms pressed her closer to me and kept her prisoner so she couldn't move. I leaned in towards her and crashed my lips against hers. She giggled against my lips as her hands rested in my hair and on my neck whilst mine stayed on her back, pressing her closer to me. I smiled against her lips because she was right. We had spent too long looking back at the memories that we had made before and didn't bother to think about the memories we were making together now. We couldn't keep looking back, we had to look ahead and to all the new things that would come to us. Our past was just memories but the future was a new diary, a new chapter in our lives and it was time for us to start living it together.

May I hold you

as you fall to sleep,

when the world is closing in

and you can't breathe.

May I love you.

May I be your shield.

When no one can be found

may I lay you down.

I hoped you liked it and please review! Only the epilogue to go now, ahhh! I will be writing more stories and I have started writing ones called Summer Love, Gilbert's Anatomy (yeah I know :P ) and Darling Don't Give Up On Me Yet. I will be posting one of these when I have finished the majority of the ones I write now so keep looking!

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Love you all so much,

Lauren xox