A/N: Late update, but we've both been uber busy; well, I don't know about Danny, but I've been. (And since I'm the woman in the whole fiasco, I'm the one that gets everything done. ^^:L) Well, anyway, here you are and please, PLEASE review. :')

Chapter Three: Save My Life, I'll Save Your Heart.

Eventually, Elena broke gazes with Damon and frowned, leaning back into her chair; why were things so awkward between them both? He was supposed to be her boyfriend's brother and she was supposed to be his brother's girlfriend. And nothing in between. But, for some reason, Elena and Damon could never get that quite right. Which sucked. Which really sucked. Elena watched him get up, and shuffled slightly in her seat; things were forever going to be this way. But today was different, today he'd kissed her, actually kissed her. Well, her neck. And even if it was only a peck, Stefan wouldn't approve. Tapping her pen against the wood of her desk, she raised her hand and asked to be excused. Somehow her teacher let her go.

He drank bottle after bottle, and after the fourth one, he fell asleep on the sofa. It was a good thing too; he didn't have to think about anything. But even in his dreams he wasn't meant to have a moment of piece. He kept getting those images in his head. Katherine. Stefan. Elena. Elena. Stefan and Elena. Stefan and Katherine. Elena. Katherine and Elena. It was making him crazy. Insane, yet he didn't know how to wake up, trapped in this nightmare cycle. Frowning and moving in his sleep. He hated nightmares. He hated emotion. Emotion was weakness. That's what he'd been telling himself for YEARS. Now.. Now, he would be considered either a hypocrite or a very very weak vampire.

Elena was suddenly oh-too aware of all of the staring eyes on her. She used to love everyone's attention, but right now she couldn't think of anything worse All Elena wanted was to get the hell outta this room, this building and fast. She couldn't be here right now, she couldn't be around anyone. Elena hastily scooped her possessions into the satchel and headed out. Within moments she was out of the building. Elena walked and walked and walked with no consideration or care for where she was heading. With every step she forgot about Damon a little more, or that's what she hoped to do.

Meanwhile at home, Damon decided that it was against his oh so mean nature to be drinking alone having no fun at all. It took him only a few minutes to find some girl downtown and get her to the boarding house. Now, the music was on, he was drinking, sitting on the sofa enjoying his very own strip show. Even though he wasn't that much into it at the moment he enjoyed it because it took his mind off things.. for at least a few minutes. He groaned and got up, before pushing the girl against the wall and kissing her roughly and possessively. He was hungry, but first of all he needed entertainment.. as in sex. Then, he was going to feed and use compulsion to make the girl forget whatever happened, or he might just drain her of all the blood. Then he'd have a lecture of Stefan.

Elena knew she shouldn't be out here, especially on her own. Though it was almost midday and the sun was not only at it's warmest and highest, the place Elena had stumbled into now was not one to be taken lightly by any means. Elena knew she shouldn't be alone right now; but there was a defined difference between wanting and needing something, and at the moment, with anyone around she wouldn't have the thinking time she so desperately craved. Elena let out a heavy sigh then raised her right foot. Before planting it firmly half a foot in front of her Elena heard a rustle of leaves. And it wasn't just an ordinary one either. She was frozen completely still, as instincts called to her to run, but she couldn't; Elena remained frozen in the deep depths of the wood.

The girl seemed to be.. Really experienced, which brought along a lot of pleasure. It was a time well spent, and it definitely took his mind off things. After the whole act he fed on her, used compulsion to make her think she cut her neck by a mistake because she was drunk and went for another round. He could go on all night long, but of course, soon he will get bored of her and just let her go back to whatever. Or he might kill her. No. Stefan will give him another of his oh-Damon-you're-so-mean-you-kill-people lecture, and that was the last thing Damon needed right now. He could avoid that... for now. But if this town will continue to be such a pain in the arse he was going to make it suffer, or just move towns. That was simple.

What the hell was that? And then there was another rustle, louder this time but on the other side of Elena. She spun around to face the new direction and scanned her eyes frantically around the scene. Had it always been this cold? And if it had been why hadn't she noticed herself shivering; but a part of Elena knew the answer, what if she wasn't shivering because she was cold, what if she was shivering because she was scared? Elena's heart kicked up a few notches and her fight or flight instinct began to pump excess energy around her body. Then, another sound, a scarping sort of noise, the kind you got while scratching away wood with sandpaper. Elena gulped and stayed fixed where she was.

He was on the bed, on top of the girl, in the middle of having fun when he heard it. It must have been some distance away yet he heard it very clearly. He got up, and quickly got dressed before locking his eyes on the girl and using compulsion to make her go home and forget what happened, and he was out the door. Elena was in trouble and he was going to do something about it . He stopped in the middle of the woods, listening intensively for another sound. And there it was, not far away. He walked up to the scene quietly and stood behind one of the trees, looking at Elena. He would wait for the attacker to show himself/herself before he exposes himself.

Elena's heart was beating so fast she feared it might beat right out of her chest; she'd rather be in a room full of people right now, she'd rather be anywhere - anywhere but here alone in the woods. Well, the alone part wasn't true - strictly speaking anyway. But whatever it was out there and coming closer it definitely wasn't human. She could feel it. And then it happened, another noise, much louder this time and on this occasion, she saw him. She let out a scream of sheer terror before turning to run, but he was suddenly in front of her. His hand clamped over Elena's neck and she gasped, trying to pry his hands away from her neck. Stefan... Oh, Stefan where are you. Or Damon, hell, Damon couldn't be far.. Damon.

He acted quickly and on impulse. Right when the attacker appeared he jumped out from behind the tree, grabbed him by the shoulders and yanked him away from Elena.

"Stay behind me." He ordered her, before walking up to the vampire, which was now standing up again.

Damon narrowed his eyes, before stopping and standing still, waiting for the vampire's next move. As Damon thought the man used vampire speed to get closer to Damon. He was so close, he could see the vampire expose his fangs as he planned to bite Damon, but he was faster. He had a broken whisky bottle in his hand, and he thrusted it into the vampire's flesh before the one got to him. The vampire stopped dead in his tracks, literally. When he was on the ground, Damon walked up to Elena, and put his hands on her shoulder, before locking his eyes on her.

"Are you okay.?"

Right then, Elena was sure she was going to die. At the hands of a vampire, how ironic ay? And just as she was about to give up all hope of her existence and future, he came. It all happened so fast then Elena could barely process each movement. Damon had came to rescue her; but how, why? Elena told herself it was a coincidence he was here, and nothing more. Elena spared a nod to Damon, doing as he instructed her immediately and watched behind him helplessly as he attacked and then, fortunately killed her attacker. When Elena was sure that it was safe for her to move and Damon was facing her she finally started to breathe again. Acting on impulse also, Elena flung her arms around Damon's neck, tight and held him close to her, her eyes were brimming with tears and she bit hard onto her lip.

"Yes, I.. I'm fine.. Damon," she murmured, burying her head into his strong chest and keeping herself close to him.

It was so... weird. He couldn't really help but smile. Instinctively, he put his arms around her, and spoke in a soothing tone.

"It's okay. Let's get you home.." He said, before pulling away slightly and looking at her.

He frowned seeing the tears, and before he could think to stop himself, his hand was already wiping away the tears. Well, this was definitely unexpected, but he was glad it was him that rescued her, not Stefan. Or maybe he wasn't... He wasn't going to think about that now anyways. The evening started, well, it was fun, all pleasurable and all and then boom. Something like that happens. He hated his eternal life.

Elena was holding onto Damon tightly, tighter than before she was just so.. Well, glad that he was here. She knew Damon didn't have to save her. But he had done, and that had indeed meant a lot to her. That vampire could've been much older and a great deal stronger than him, but he risked his life to save hers anyway. But then he pulled away, oh-too soon. Elena couldn't wash the frown from her face. Didn't he like being close to her? She was still was she felt him wipe away her now-streaming tears. At his words Elena shook her head and held him once again, the left half of her face pressed into his shirt.

"Just one more moment, please Damon?" she whispered.

He didn't say anything. He just nodded and hugged her again with a sigh. Right now, it was rather hard trying to block out the conversation they've had earlier on, in the school. It was bothering him. She was probably, no, definitely the only person he could trust. Stupid Isobel. She just had to complicate things.

"Sorry." He said, surprising even himself.

He didn't mean to say it out loud. This whole eternal life bullshit was getting on his nerves, because since he's been back in Mystic Falls and socializing with the holy Stefan, he's gone soft. And he didn't like that, because it meant that someone could easily hurt him by hurting the people he cared about. Now, that was stupid.

"For earlier." He added, so she would understand what the hell he was on about.

When Elena felt his arms wind and then tighten around her back, she pressed herself closer to him, inhaling his musky, luring scent; that was another thing about Damon, no-one in the world could beat the way he smelt. Her tears had stopped flowing now, but her vision was still blurred and her eyes and begun to sting. Near death experiences really do take it out of you. She felt him sigh more than she heard it, and she realised, the way they were embracing one another, they would have looked like lovers to an outsider. The fact that that realisation didn't bother her disturbed her. And then he spoke. His words touched her deeper than any others had, Elena looked up at him; into those deep blue eyes then opened her mouth to speak.

"Don't be sorry," she whispered.

It took all of his will to stop himself from doing something. Kissing her.. It was hard.. resisting those lips of hers. He tried to look away, but they seemed to have captured his eyes permanently. Without even thinking about it, because he was sure that if he did, he would stop himself, he leaned down, so that his face was barely inches from hers. Closing his eyes, he pressed his lips against hers. It was sensational. And he enjoyed it, and for once today he actually forgot about all the drama totally, focusing on the actual moment. Here and now, was what occupied all of his mind. There was no space for anything else. Kissing her was almost too much. He didn't think about Stefan, he didn't think about Elena's relationship with him, or the school talk today. Nothing . Just her, and her lips.

Elena's head was spinning, all sense of right, all sense of wrong was completely abolished from her mind, at that very moment there were only Damon and Elena in the world. The breeze gently caressed her cheeks, her bare arms, her hands as she inhaled and exhaled softly, unable to speak. She was staring into Damon's eyes and she saw galaxies... Universes; within those deep, dark and very very tempting irises. And then suddenly, his face was scoring downward, his lips, those wonderful, so kissable pouted lips were an inch away from hers. And then she watched his eyes snap to a close, and without a moment of hesitation, his lips crashed down to hers. At first, Elena had no idea what to do, how to react. The spark suddenly flowing through her body was so hard to ignore. Then.. Unable to stop herself, Elena's lips responded.

Danny+Jackie x3