A/N Boom, I'm back! Thanks for all your reviews, guys. I super appreciate your feedback, and I've used them to help shape this installment.
By noon, Elena's wailing subsides to occasional sniffles. Although it's clear that she's calmed down, Damon still prefers to keep her within the confines of his embrace. If he's honest with himself, Damon's missed being needed by her.
He's missed being held on to as her savior, missed being someone materially important in her life.
"Is there anything you want now?" he asks, breaking the silence that's settled over them. "Wanna go downstairs?"
Elena wipes her tears with the back of her hand. As a vampire, her eyes are not as puffy as they would have been otherwise, and for that she's grateful. "I don't think I wanna do that yet. Can I just stay up here with you? I'm so tired, Damon."
"You never have to ask if you can stay with me, Elena. Never."
He punctuates his words with a soft kiss to her forehead. At this point, he's honestly forgotten how many kisses he's given her, though of course, he was never counting. Still not letting go, he shifts slightly to grab his phone from the nightstand.
Stefan answers on the first ring. "What? Did something happen to Elena?"
"She's as fine as she can be right now, brother." Damon pulls in an exhausted breath. "Find me a witch, will you?"
"Why?"
"Tell you later. Just find me that witch, and put Blondie on the phone."
It's not long before Caroline's voice chirps in from the other line. "Why'd you ask for me?"
"I need an update on Bonnie. How crazy is she?"
He hears Caroline's sigh. "She's not at her best, Damon. I don't even know what's exactly wrong with her."
"Well, keep her from Elena then. I don't want anything stressing her, so you and the quarterback remain on Bennett duty until further notice. If anything notable comes up, tell Stefan, and he'll relay it to me."
At the end of that sentence, Damon hangs up and refocuses his attention on Elena. He sighs in relief that she's finally stopped her tears, even if she's still not speaking much. Damon still sees a trace of bleakness in her chocolate eyes, causing an idea to pop into his head. Above all things, he's determined to replace that bleakness with pure joy.
His voice carrying newfound enthusiasm, he carries her off the bed. "Time for us to get clean," he says, grinning.
"What do you mean?"
"Hygiene stops for no one, sweetheart." He gives her yet another kiss. "Not even a pair as attractive as we are."
Damon succeeds in getting Elena to laugh then, and he takes it as the first real cue that she's back.
Her emotionless version had a certain apathy in her laughter, which he's pleased to find missing at this point. So even though he doesn't really believe in God anymore, Damon casts his eyes up towards his ceiling. He has no idea if somebody's up there to hear, but he mutters a quick thanks anyway.
Relaxing in the tub with her back to Damon's chest, Elena tries to fight the growing need inside her.
She well knows that Damon is just seeking to comfort, though she can no longer discount the passion starting to color his kisses. Even his touches now have a trace of lust in them, his long fingers ghosting over her bare skin. Considering their sire bond, Elena's not quite sure if she should be doing this with him, though she's finding more and more reasons not to give a single shit.
"I'm sorry I'm being weak like this," he whispers, just a touch of pain in his voice. "But you're so beautiful, Elena, and I'll always want you."
Elena nods in understanding, and the downward motion causes Damon to latch onto the back of her neck. His teeth quickly figure into the equation, with him nipping on her shoulders and nape. His possessive hold keeps her pressed against him, the warm water rippling slightly around them.
Very soon, the only sounds in the bathroom are Elena's moans from his attention.
"Damon," she says, gripping onto his forearms. "If you don't stop, I don't think I'll be able to control myself."
The doubtful sentence pushes him to disengage, furiously trying to rein in his urges. It's a hard battle to fight, and thoughts of the sire bond flood his head quickly. Ever the efficient thinker, his attention soon rests on just one of his new hypotheses. He's aching to call Stefan and at least ask if the experiment could work, though it isn't really possible to get his brother at the moment.
With outside validation absent, Damon decides to go and test his guess out anyway.
"Hey Elena," he says, "scoot around so you're facing me straight."
She does as he asks, after a bit of maneuvering in his tub. "Why? What did you wanna try?"
"Well, I just came up with a possible experiment for the sire bond, and I want you to listen carefully. Whatever happens after this, I want you to have your freedom. I want you to be able to choose for yourself, without my influence. I want you to listen to me or follow me, only when you really want to do so yourself. And most of all, I want your will to stay under your control."
"Alright," she tells him, her eyes curious. "So now what?"
"Now slap me. As in really slap me."
Nothing happens despite his emphatic command, and hope begins to dawn in both their eyes. For good measure, Damon tries something else, infusing his words with as much determination and resolve as he can.
"I want you," he says, "to go back to my brother. Go on. Go back to him. Be with him again."
Her answer seals the correctness of his guess. "I don't want to go back to Stefan, Damon."
"Even if it's what I want?"
She smiles then. "Yep, even if that's what you want. I'm not going back to him. I'm staying with you."
"Fucking hell!" he says then. "Who knew the answer was this fucking easy? I just had to want your freedom and give it to you. Holy crap, Elena, you have no idea how happy I am. And to think, all the time we both wasted!"
Elena cradles his face, staring right at his eyes. Now it's her turn to lavish his face with soft kisses, which all end with a long one on his lips. "I can see your happiness, don't worry. You're even more handsome when you're this joyful."
"What can I say? I have you back, and I'm reasonably sure the sire bond problem is fixed. But to be sure, we'll check with a witch."
"Is that why you asked Stefan to find one?"
He nods, but then dismisses the subject. "Forget that. It's just details at this point. Do you want to tell me what you felt when the switch came on? I'd like to be able to help you process the stuff, and maybe help."
Elena does a trusting nod. "I felt like I was drowning. It was like being pushed deep into the ocean, all the while being pulled into that water by something at the bottom, too. But you helped me back to the surface, even when it felt like there wasn't any hope. For that I'm grateful, Damon."
A breathtaking smile forms on Elena's face then, and Damon feels heavy from the tenderness in her eyes. He feels completely tied to his spot, tethered by bonds he can't see. He knows the ties are made of their love, rooting him securely to his place with her.
It fills him with more emotion than he can express with words, so he defaults to using actions instead.
Pulling her to him, he takes his time with this next kiss. Damon's pace is leisurely now, born of the knowledge that the sire bond is inconsequential. Second by second, he infects her with his contentment, filling her with a joy she hasn't known in a long time.
"I love you so much," he pants against her skin, laving her neck with his lips and his tongue. Damon slightly doubts if the sex is prudent considering her recent ordeal, but her nails on his shoulders recapture his attention.
Even better, Elena's clearly intent on returning the favor of his attention, kissing his hair and then his lips, her ferocity matching his.
Moving to kiss his shoulder now, she whispers, "I love you too."
From there, their frantic movement causes water to start splashing down the tub's sides, just as Damon starts to align their bodies for what he knows is coming. As soon as Elena detects his intentions, her hand snakes under the water to grip his length firmly.
She moves her hand experimentally at first, before moving to the rhythm she knows he likes.
"I hope I'm doing it right, Mr. Salvatore," she says, just a hint of teasing in her voice.
"Oh yes you are," he says, frantically thrusting to meet her hand. "Fuck, sweetheart. You make me feel so good..."
Elena smiles at his compliment, hugging her to him with her free hand. "That's it, Damon. Let me thank you for taking care of me."
His response is a lazy, happy sigh, with him moving to rest his head against the side of her neck. Their faces pressed close now, Elena can hear Damon's breath coming in gasps, affirming her ability to give him the highest pleasure.
Still, not wanting things to end too early, Damon eventually stops Elena. This time, it's his hand that snakes underwater, his fingers ghosting over her center for the briefest moment. Giving her yet another leisurely kiss, he guides himself inside her at an agonizing pace.
The slowness coats the whole bathroom in lust and tension.
"Move, Damon," she says, fingers locking into his hair once he finally begins to thrust.
Despite the water starting t spill out of the tub in huge waves, neither Damon nor Elena seem perturbed by the chaos at all. In stark contrast, the two of them focus solely on the feeling of them being joined again, their lips meeting in a warm, wet kiss. For him, this joining is the culmination of a long wait. For her, it feels like coming home after many years in the wilderness.
"I'm dying inside you," Damon whispers, his voice soft and reverent. "Do you know how perfect you feel? It's fucking exquisite."
"Right back at you," she says, absorbing his pleasured groans through a kiss.
Eventually moving her lips to the curve of Damon's neck, Elena nips his wet skin with her blunt teeth. The sensation draws an outpour of happy sighs from his lips, causing him to speed up his movements from the stimulation.
At her own encouragement, he deigns to go in as far as he absolutely can, the added depth only seeming to please Elena all the more. Much like his sighs, her moans loudly cheer him on, ringing like bells calling for his action.
Never one to disappoint, he adds the skill of his lips to the mix, latching onto her breasts like a man long starved of food.
With all his enthusiastic suckling, the telltale ache begins in Damon's gums, followed by the appearance of veins under his eyes. The blue of his irises transform into the color of tar and moonless nighttime, prompting Elena's own change.
Her canines lengthen to match the emergence of his own, the tips of her fangs about three-fourths from her bottom lip.
Nearly exploding with lust now, both of them eschew their human sides in favor of succumbing fully to their instincts.
As Damon bites into Elena's wrist, her own fangs drive right into the side of his neck. It's not long before his thrusts grow almost violent, his surges filled with a power he's never shown her quite before. Too lost in his pleasure, he doesn't even notice the gouge of her nails into his shoulders, much less the rivulets of their blood that start to stain the bathtub's water.
To both, all that matters now is fulfillment, and the single-minded task of pleasuring each other as best they can. No longer is there any rhythm to their movement, only a jarring combination of thrusts and animalistic growling.
In the end, Damon lets go of Elena's wrist first, quickly meeting her bloodstained lips with his own.
Once their essences combine, a total release comes soon after, the likes of which they've never experienced before. The sheer force of the climax jolts them both into the abyss, ending their bout with lazy kisses and a few last thrusts from Damon.
Much too tired to do anything else, the two of them just hold each other, not even minding when the water grows cold.
"Did you see the water when we came out? It was like we cut someone's neck open in there. Kinda awesome, if you ask me."
Elena shakes her head at Damon's playful tone, as if it's entirely normal for them to turn bath water into a pool of blood.
"You're like a kid sometimes," she says, a grin on her face while gazing up at him.
"We're vampires," he whispers against her neck. "We're supposed to enjoy blood."
Elena concedes and goes silent, already distracted from his kisses on her neck anyway. Bearing a lazy smile, she revels in the feeling of being utterly secure, encased and protected by his weight resting above her. If she were human, his weight would have been uncomfortable long ago, though now it's barely a problem due to her vampirism.
Going by the same easy smile on his own face, Elena's sure that Damon doesn't mind their position as well. In fact, it's left their bodies conveniently aligned, just waiting for one of them to take advantage of the fact.
Surprisingly though, Damon's not the one to do it, soon rolling off of her to sit up on the bed.
"You know," he says, "Stefan and Blondie have been waiting downstairs since noon. By my estimate, it's about 3 pm already."
"Back up a second," she says, a certain glint in her eye. "Did I just hear you choose visitors over this bed and its possibilities?"
"I think I might regret it in the immediate future, but yes. I think it's time you talked with them. It will help you normalize sooner."
"If you say it'll help, I'll do it. But if things go south or I start crying, help me out, okay?"
His answer is barely above a whisper. "I'll always help you, sweetheart. Always."
A/N Did you guys like the lemon in your eye? Send me your thoughts, then see you in the next chapter!