Long lost & gone

by 0123Hope

Preparing for her wedding to Stefan Salvatore, Elena Gilbert still feels the loss of someone who died 5 years ago. But is he really gone?

16. Chapter 16

Come on skinny love, just last the year
Pour a little salt, we were never here
My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my
Staring at the sink of blood and crushed veneer

---

Long lost & gone

Chapter 16

Elena stared out the window of the chapel, irritated by the bright sun that made everything look so beautiful, so peaceful. She prayed for rain, wind, hail, a tornado. Anything that would screw up the outdoor wedding. A wedding that wasn't even hers. Bonnie and Stefan had taken care of every little detail, every color, every material, every piece of fabric, all of it had been carefully picked to make the wedding seem perfect. That's why she was hoping for rain, a thunderstorm, a hurricane. It didn't matter, it just had to ruin their perfect plans.

Usually her mood depended on the weather. When the sun was shining bright and warm, she would be a happy person. If there were gray clouds in the sky and rain falling out of it, she would be in a bad mood for the rest of the day. But today the weather didn't have any effect on her. Today, the sun was warming her skin through the glass, the birds were singing their spring songs and the beautiful flowers around the chapel were in full blossom but it didn't have any effect on her. Her body was numb, holding back any emotion that came to the surface. Only anger made its way through the shield. Anger because she had lost almost everyone she loved in the past few years, anger because she wasn't allowed to keep the one person she could still love. Angry at God for choosing this path for her, angry at him because there seemed to be no way out of it. But most of all angry at the singing birds, the blossoming flowers, the laughing children on the street, the bright sun that made the world around her seem so happy while her own world was crashing down on her.

"Elena?"

She turned around, facing Cooper's concerned voice. The look in his eyes made her self-conscious. She knew she looked bad, bags under her eyes from not having slept in two days, bloodshot from crying the past night. Her skin pale from nausea. Her body so skinny from not eating in a long time.

"Are you okay?" He saw the tears in her eyes, the breaths she struggled to take, the quiet whimpers that came out of her mouth. The fragile body that was breaking down in front of him.

She nodded her head. "I'm fine." her voice broke, revealing her lie. Revealing every piece of her broken heart, every fiber of her ripped soul, every scream of her body.

"Wanna try that again?." The shaking body, the thrilling hands, the trembling lips. He could read her like a book.

She chuckled, shaking her head. "You and Damon must have been separated at birth."

Only mentioning his name, thinking it. It made her legs give out, letting her crumble to the ground. Sobbing, shaking, screaming because she had fought, she had sacrificed, she had given everything up and still she didn't get to keep one thing. The one thing, the only thing she really wanted.

Cooper sat down next to her, cradling her in his arms, trying to make her pain go away so she could feel numb again.

She looked up at him with her bloodshot eyes, clutching his arm. "You know what they say about people? When they want something and they finally have it, they immediately want something else?"

Cooper nodded his head. Confused where his friend was going with this but holding her because she needed it. She needed someone to hold on to when everyone she cared about was disappearing on her.

She clutched his arm tighter, boring her teary eyes into his. "I would never ask for anything else or for something more. I wouldn't need a new phone or money or a house. I just want one thing, why can't I have one thing while everyone else has everything they want?" She got up on her knees, clutching both his arms in her small hands, her eyes wide open. "I just want one thing. If I got it, I would never ask for anything else. I just want him, for the rest of my life. I don't need anything else. You have to believe me, Coop. You have to believe me." She had the look of a crazy person on her face, she was breaking down, tearing her body apart, ripping her soul in more pieces, smashing her heart with the panic attack that took over her body.

He brought her head back to his chest, holding her because seeing his best friend break down made him need something to hold onto himself. "I believe you, Elena." He rocked her body in his arms. "Shh.. I believe you."

"What if I never see him again? Maybe I can never hold him again or tell him I love him. I should have told him sooner, I should have said it more, I should have said it after every breath." She buried her head in Coop's chest. "I didn't tell him enough. I should have said it every second he was with me."

He lifted her chin up with one finger, making her look at him. "We'll get you to him, do you understand? I'll make sure you see him again. And when you do, I want you to tell him that you love him until your voice gives out so you'll know that he knows for the rest of his life that you do."

"And if he forgets, I'll be there to knock it in that stubborn head of his." Caroline sat down on her other side. Putting her arms around Elena and squeezing her between her vampire body and Coop's human body.

They just sat there, holding each other. Caroline was sobbing with her while Cooper rubbed her back and stroked her hair, comforting Caroline in the process.

"I heard them talk." Caroline broke the silence, looking up from where her head rested on Elena's shoulder. "Bonnie and Stefan." She clarified when they both looked confused.

"What did they say?" Elena's voice pitched. She felt Cooper hugging her closer against him, afraid that she would break down again from what Caroline might tell her.

"They were talking about the witch that's blocking Bonnie from finding Damon. Apparently, the only one able to block out another witch has to be from the oldest witch bloodline there is. Bonnie said that these witches possess powers that exceed hers because every witch born in that line becomes stronger and stronger." Caroline's voice sounded admiring.

"What kind of powers do they have?" Elena looked at Caroline, listening carefully to the vampire.

"Bonnie said something about looking into your future and seeing your destiny." Caroline shook her head again, trying to remember Bonnie's words. "Powers other witches can only dream of."

"Does Damon know someone like that?" Cooper looked down at her.

She shook her head. "I don't think so."

"Bonnie said something about Lucy, that she might be able to do it because she was trained by an original witch. But Lucy is..." Caroline's voice trailed off.

"I let Lucy die because of Damon." Elena answered when Cooper looked confused from one girl to the other.

She entered the boarding house through the back door, hearing voices in the parlor, sneaking in because she knew that they were keeping something from her, something big. Something she would have never agreed to, something that had to be kept from her because that something was going to define their whole plan and her whole future.

"I know we've gone over this before but I want to do it one more time." She could hear Lucy's voice speak.

"I'll make sure Klaus is weak enough so you can get to him, he'll still be stronger than you, so be fast and stab the dagger right into his heart because I won't be able to keep him weak for very long." She heard Lucy walking in the parlor, her heels tapping on the wooden floor.

Elena came closer and pushed herself against the wall, she would be able to see them if she just peeked around the corner, but with the three vampires and two witches in the room she didn't dare to take the risk.

Lucy stood still. The tapping stopped.

"The dagger will kill you because you're a vampire." Elena's breathing stopped, hearing the words of the witch. She knew there were only three vampires in that room. Two men, one women. All three prepared to die for her. But only one that couldn't die when they wanted her to live after the fight.

"...but you're the strongest so you're more likely to get to him." Lucy's voice had a trail of sadness behind it.

Elena clutched her chest, arms crossed, pushing her heart back into place. Trying to make that unbearable ache in her heart stop. Trying not to scream and not to cry. Trying to imagine her life without him, imagining it with anyone but him. Imagining it with the emptiness she would always carry with her. The emptiness that would never be filled again. The ache that would never go away. The ache that would take over her whole body. A body that would never respond to another one again.

"I get it." She shouldn't have been surprised by the voice that answered because they all knew who the strongest was. The one that was going to die for her. The one that had made her promise to live without him because he knew, he knew he was never going to come back. He knew he was going to leave her behind. He knew she was never going to accept it. He knew that after that night, his hands would never touch her skin again.

"Now all we have to do is keep it from Elena." Stefan's voice sounded smug, because he wasn't the one dying. He wasn't the one leaving his heart behind. He wasn't the one that would die and never get the chance to experience the love you could only get from someone who loved you with her whole heart. Her whole body and soul. The love that could consume you and destroy you with one look. The love she felt for his brother.

If she only had the strength to stand up, she would tell him that. She would tell him that she would never love him again, that she had chosen his brother a long time ago. That his brother had taken his place in her heart a long time ago. Not only his place but the place of every single person in her life, every single person in that room. She would tell him that he couldn't let his brother die without her dying because she wouldn't have anything to live for without him.

"That's going to be pretty hard to do." She could imagine the eye-thing that came along with that sentence. With that sentence she knew she was lost. She knew that she would have to get up because he already knew she was there, he had already registered her presence. His body had already registered hers and his soul had already been searching it's way towards hers.

Stefan sighed. "She has been clueless for months. Even Caroline didn't blab it out." Caroline must have looked offended because Stefan looked at her apologetically. "Sorry Caroline." She heard Caroline mutter something. "But the point is that we can hide it for another day so she doesn't have to pretend to care about your death and get all frustrated at you. We'll already have to deal with it after the fight because she isn't going to forgive us easily but by that time you will be dead and she will be saved, it's a win-win."

"Well Stefan for being such a saint, you sure as hell aren't acting like one but that's not my point, my point is that your girlfriend already knows about my upcoming death." Damon's voice sounded exhausted but she could still trace the smugness in it when he raised it. "Come on in eavesdropper, I'm sure you have an opinion."

She should have been irritated by the way he spoke to her but it only made her mad, furious for the decision he had made. The one he had apparently made months ago, months before she told him that she had chosen him. That he owned her. That she loved him. Months before she told him that she wasn't going to live without him.

She stood up, her arms at her sides, fists clenched and her breathing heavy. Turning around the corner she heard the gasps from her friends and family. The eyes that were looking at her and calling her name, trying to explain but she couldn't focus on them, not when the one person in the room that had a whole bunch of explaining to do was unmoved by her presence. That one person that was obligated to look at her and explain everything didn't.

It only made her more furious because she knew he wasn't going to change his mind. She knew him like he knew her, body, soul and mind. They knew every piece and nerve of each other's body. Every curve and every vein. Every breath and every heartbeat.

A few of her friends tried to approach her, trying to explain and soothe her but she wasn't going to have any of it. Her furious mind refused to register any word they said, she needed him to explain. To explain to her that this was a sick joke. That he wasn't going to die.

So she walked towards him, her steps determined. Sure, because he couldn't die, he knew that he couldn't die. He didn't move, didn't even blink or breathe when she stopped in front of him, eyes focused on his face. Her whole body language screaming angry when her whole heart was in disbelieve.

Her mouth opened, trying to form any words but her mind was blank. Every bit of energy went to her heart, trying to heal it. Trying to keep it together and trying to make the ache stop.

He finally looked up at Stefan and pointed a finger at her. "Stefan, I told you to keep the goldfish in the bowl."

SLAP.

His head turned to the side, his jaw red from the impact. Her hand hurting from the force behind it and her heart squeezing because he was going to leave her behind. He was going to leave her and never come back, but he didn't have the right to leave her, not when he had made her feel every emotion possible, not when she had hated him, loathed and resented him. Not when even in this moment she was more furious than she had ever been in her life and still loved him more than any other being every could have.

She turned around, her back facing him, tears streaming down her face and rage taking over her whole body. She couldn't let him go. Not that easily.

She turned around to face him, raised her arm up and hit him again, watching as his face turned abruptly to the other side. He needed to hurt. She needed to hurt him as much as he hurt her. She needed to make him feel that he couldn't just leave her behind. She needed to make him realize that the pain of him leaving her would feel like this. Like she got slapped in the face over and over again.

She knew that he let her hit him, time after time, hit after hit, his face cocking to the side and back. He let it happen because he knew how she felt. How he had betrayed her. How he had broken the foundation of their relationship when he hadn't been honest with her. How he had broken her just now by giving all her love back. How he had destroyed her with making her promise that she was going to live without him.

"Stop." She felt Stefan's arms wrap around her waist and pull her back "Elena, stop it."

She struggled against his hold, trying to break free so she could get back to her mission. Trying to break it so she could go back to her goal. Trying with every hit and every push to get her love into him. Trying with every glance to tell him that this was the last thing she wanted to do.

His eyes were boring into hers. His jaw red and covered with bloody scratches. The deep cuts on his neck that her nails had caused were still bleeding, his shirt covered in blood. The blood she could see under her nails, could feel on her fingertips.

"You want to be angry?" His eyes bored right into hers, right into the animal that wasn't going to let her prey escape. Not before it got what it wanted. Not before the prey would surrender to her. "Let her go Stefan, let's see how angry she can be."

Stefan started protesting. "Damon, that's not,-"

"LET HER GO." Everyone in the room took a step back, except for the body in Stefan's arms that was still reaching forwards, trying to launch herself at him. Burying every feeling she ever had for him in his body with every hit. Hate, fear, disappointment, distrust, trust, joy, longing, lust, love... A whole list he had put her through, a list she would gladly undergo again if he just let her keep him.

The arms around her were carefully pulled back, releasing her. She raised her hand again, ready to bring another scratch to his face when he grabbed her wrist and threw his whole body against hers, pushing her against the wooden floor and holding her still. His legs entangled with hers. His hips pushing into hers. His chest pressing her whole upper body down. His left hand was still holding her wrist while his right hand was securely wrapped around her throat.

"You want to be angry at me? You want to fight me?" He pushed his hips into hers, earning a growl from the squirming animal underneath him. "Go ahead, because I won't be here tomorrow to fight with you."

Those words earned him another attempt at clawing his eyes out. She tried to fight him, her whole body arching and pushing against his, trying to make him move so she could make it clear to him that he wasn't going anywhere. That she wouldn't let him get out of her hold. That even if he was a vampire, she would find a way to keep him locked. Locked in the house. Locked in her heart. Locked in her body. Locked in her life.

"Damon, get off my girlfriend." Stefan got between the struggling couple, giving Damon a push in the process.

"Stay out of this." Damon kept his eyes on her, studying her face while his body kept her in place.

Something in his voice made Stefan step backwards, taking his place next to the other people that had their gazes fixed on the struggling couple.

"I hate you!" It was the first thing she said in the ten minutes she had been struggling against the vampire. The first thing she didn't mean because even if she hated him at that moment and would hate him for a long time, it would never be more than the love she felt for him. The love she felt when his body touched hers, the love that made her whole body shiver when he locked his eyes with hers.

"That's too bad." his eyes bored into hers, keeping her eyes captive while the rest of her body was still fighting for freedom 'Because I love you.' she saw his lips move, the way he made no sound, the way he just mouthed the words at her, she felt the way her body responded to it, the warmth that went through it, the way it made her body ease against his.

She stopped fighting and squirming. Just shaking her head from side to side, still not wanting to give up, but knowing she was losing, losing this battle, losing her love, losing him, losing herself, losing everything that had become her whole future in just a few months time.

"Shh…" He tried to soothe her, pressing his hand on one side of her face and nuzzling his nose against the other side. He weakened his grip on her wrist but still held her arm up above her head.

She removed her eyes from his, glancing at the rest of his face, inspecting the scars and bruises on it. She felt nauseous by what she had done when the animal had taken over her body. When everything she was living for was threatening to disappear from life. The life she had chosen. The life that was ripped away from her just minutes ago.

"I'm still here." He moved the hand that was resting on one side of her face upwards, stroking away the pieces of hair falling on her forehead and placing a kiss against her ear with each stroke. "I'm still here." He kept repeating the words, whispering them in her ear, trying to calm her down. Trying to make the sobs stop, trying to let her know that he wouldn't leave her behind if there was another option.

"Damon what are you doing?" Stefan's angry voice made her body tense up again, reminding her that they weren't alone in the room. That she couldn't beg him right now. That she couldn't make it clear to him how much she loved him. How he couldn't leave her behind when there was nothing to live for without him.

"Using a Chinese calm technique I learned in Austria." He kept his gaze on her, stroking her hair and rolling his eyes while giving her a small smile, asking her to forgive him, just for now, just so he could get them out of this mess.

She rested her forehead against his, breathing in his scent, remembering every detail about him, every curve in his perfect face, every inch of smooth skin, every muscle in his strong body, every shade of blue in his eyes, every piece of his soul.

He removed the grip on her wrist, grabbed her thighs and pulled her legs around his waist. Once she was securely wrapped around him, he wrapped one arm around her waist and held her tightly.

"Hold on."

She nodded and wrapped her arm around his shoulder, resting her head in the crook of his neck.

He pulled her up with him, carrying her in his arms, making his way towards the stairs, leaving their audience behind.

"Where are you going? Put her down." Stefan grabbed his arm, pulling his brother back and trying to lift Elena out of his hold.

"I'm dying, I claim her for today." The words made Elena crawl deeper into his body, nuzzling her nose deeper into his neck, breathing against his scars, wishing that she would soon wake up beside him and remember this whole thing as one big nightmare.

There was a knock on the door, followed by Bonnie's voice.

"Elena, why is this door locked? Do you already have the dress on?"

Cooper pressed his mouth to her ear "It will be okay. I promise."

He untangled their bodies slowly, pushing her against Caroline who was still sobbing on her shoulder and stood up. Walking towards the door and looking one last time at her before he unlocked it.

"What's going on?" Bonnie stepped through the door, her eyes focused on the two sobbing girls on the ground.

"Just a girls moment." Cooper looked at Bonnie, waving his hands in the air. "It's the big day you know."

Bonnie turned around, facing him. "Do you mind getting out? We need to get her ready."

"Easy with the tone judgy." He stepped around Bonnie, pulling the door back open, pausing and turning back to Elena. "Remember what I said." He looked into her eyes, his face serious.

She nodded her head. Not sure about what he meant but grateful for the words he had spoken.

Cooper pulled the door close behind him and Bonnie picked up the garment bag from the chair. Pulling it open and revealing the white strapless dress.

"Come on, we've only got thirty minutes. It told you to be ready but apparently you had other things to do. I don't get it though, you're marrying a wonderful man, you should have been ready and jumping through the ceiling hours ago."

"Maybe I don't find him that wonderful." She looked into Bonnie's eyes, seeing the expression from the witch change from annoyed to angry.

Caroline's body went stiff next to her, afraid from what Bonnie might do. But Bonnie didn't comment and turned around, ignoring her comment and smoothing the dress on the hanger.

"You should thank me, I cast a spell so you would have a beautiful sunny wedding. There isn't going to be a breeze of wind or a drop of rain. I thought you might have liked it considering your mood depends on the weather."

She cursed herself for not having thought about that sooner. Of course it was supposed to rain.

---

Her long curls were draped around her face, the ends of her coiffure resting on the white fitting halter top of the gown that was covered with lace, starting at her waist and making its way down to the seem of the dress. The train of the dress was covered with little shiny diamonds, the same diamonds that were put into the engagement ring on her finger. The whole picture perfect was created by Bonnie. Head to toe.

"I'm sorry.." Alaric pulled her out of her thoughts and appeared on her side, ready to give her away as his own daughter. "..what I said about Damon..it wasn't my place."

She nodded and smiled at him. "He was your friend too. You had the right to know." it felt wrong using the word friend when he had been so much more to her. But she was about to get married, there wasn't another word she could use.

"Yeah.." Alaric turned his head towards her. ".. but still, it was something between the two of you. It wasn't any of my business."

She linked her arm with his, giving it a pat. "Don't worry, you're not the first one to make it your business.

Alaric didn't answer and put his hand on her arm, ready to walk the aisle with her and give her away. Giving her to a man who had threatened her life and forced her into marrying him. Who had taken away her choice of turning when he had announced last night that he was turning her into a vampire after their wedding night. A night he wanted her to experience as a human, a night he had widely described with all the details of what he was going to do with her.

"I just wish he was here." A tear escaped her eye and she looked down, hiding her pained face from the man that had become her pseudo stepfather in the past years.

Alaric chuckled. "The booze would have been a lot better if he was here." He squeezed her arm, making her chuckle and look up at him with a small smile on her face.

The music started playing and she felt her whole body freeze. She had thought about this moment, the moment where she was supposed to walk towards the altar like she was the happiest person on earth. But the only way she could be happy was if there was a whole other person waiting for her, a person with blue eyes, black raven hair, a body that fitted hers perfectly, a smile you would die for and a soul so beautiful that you couldn't miss it anymore once you had seen it.

She wanted to run away but instead she took a step forward. Only to be pulled back by the person besides her that was boring his eyes into hers, a serious expression on his face like his cousin had thirty minutes before.

"If I could. I would bring him here in a heartbeat just to put a smile on your face." Alaric shook his head, defeated. "But I can't. So it's my job to take care of what he left behind because believe me when I say that the biggest part of him is still here." Alaric tightened the grip on her arm. "It's you. You're the biggest part of him."

Elena stared at him for a second and pulled him in a tight hug, his words letting her tear up all over again. Because this was something she only shared with Alaric. Caroline was there for her and understood her pain but she didn't miss him, she didn't miss the witty comments, the eye-thing, the smirks, the inappropriate behavior or the friendship he could give when you stayed around long enough. Nobody missed him like she and Alaric did.

She released him and looked at him "I'm sorry about the booze." she gave him a smile, appreciating his presence.

"I'll survive." He linked his arms back in hers and moved forwards when the music stopped and started playing again. Demanding their entrance in the backyard.

They turned around the corner, making their way towards the aisle. The hole in her chest aching harsher with every step, her heart squeezing tighter and her body screaming at her like it was giving her a warning. Warning her that it didn't want to be with the man at the alter, that it wanted to belong to the man that could make it scream in pleasure. That it wanted to run to the vampire that could ease her pain with one touch, that could make her soul stop from ripping itself apart and intertwine it with his. Her body wanted to run to the man that could make her half existence whole again.

She looked around, seeing so many people around her she didn't know. People that were all here to celebrate the happiest day of her life with her. People that didn't have a clue about where she really wanted to be.

They passed the rows of people that were smiling at her and finally she saw a familiar face. Cooper smiled at her and she reached for him, stroking his face and giving him a smile until she passed him. Jenna was standing on the first row with tears in her eyes, she gave her aunt's hand a squeeze and focused on the altar. Bonnie and Caroline already standing on her side in a beautiful dress with a bouquet in their hands. The minister stood in the middle, Stefan next to him with Tyler behind him.

Stefan extended his hand and Alaric placed hers in it. Placing a kiss on her head before taking his place next to Tyler. Shivers reached her spine, feeling Stefan's cold skin against her. Missing the reaction it could get, the warm tingles that made her body humming, the fire that would burn in her belly, waiting to feel more skin against hers. Instead she wanted to pull away the small piece of skin that was touching Stefan's because it felt so wrong.

The minister started welcoming the guests and before she knew it, it was time for their vows. She had picked something of the internet because she knew she wouldn't be able to speak from the heart. Her voice didn't held any emotion when she spoke them. She bend her head down and hoped that Stefan didn't believe a word she was saying about the love, the comfort, the courage he gave her. But she knew he did, because he still wasn't ready to realize that those words had disappeared long ago. That she had started to associate those words with a whole other person. A person that deserved the words so much more.

"Stefan Salvatore, do you take Elena Gilbert for your lawful wedded wife, to live in the holy estate of matrimony? Will you love, honor, comfort, and cherish her from this day forward, forsaking all others, keeping only unto her for as long as you both shall live?" The minister had started speaking the words before she realized it.

Stefan locked his eyes with her frozen face and smiled. "I do."

The Minister nodded and turned his body towards her. "Elena Gilbert, do you take Stefan Salvatore for your lawful wedded husband, to live in the holy estate of matrimony? Will you love, honor, comfort, and cherish him from this day forward, forsaking all others, keeping only unto him for as long as you both shall live?"

Her heart stopped, her breathing ceased, her veins throbbed. She couldn't agree to any of this, she wasn't supposed to agree to any of this. Because none of those vows were true. Who was she to stand in front of God and lie about who she was going to love, honor, comfort and cherish? Who was she to promise to forsake all others when she only wanted somebody else? Who was she to swear to love the man in front of her until the end of her life when she was going to love his brother forever?

'I..." She shook her head, trying to shake away the ache in her heart, just trying to spit the words out so she could save her family and friends from the monster in front of her. "I.."

Before she could repeat it another time, a lightning bolt struck down on the lawn, making a brown spot in the green field. Thunder rumbled above them, making everyone look up to the gray sky. Raindrops fell on her skin, making spots on the white silk dress. The storm she hoped for had finally arrived.

"We should go inside." Stefan pulled on her arm.

Caroline came behind her, putting her hands on her shoulders. "I'll take her. You and Bonnie should take care of the guests."

Stefan nodded and made his way towards the guests. Pointing them to the entrance of the chapel.

"You know who's doing this, right?" Caroline turned her around when Bonnie and Stefan got inside with their guests.

"I know." She smiled and looked up, closing her eyes and enjoying the raindrops on her face.

She had heard about it. How he could control the elements, how he could make the sun disappear and cloud the day with the most gray clouds you had ever seen. How he could determine where lightning struck. How he could choose the sound of the thunder above their heads. But she had never witnessed it, she had never thought that he was this powerful, that he could overpower the spell of witch.

"I'm surprised there's no fog. He's being a disappointment." Caroline smiled at her and grabbed her arms, making them spin around like two little girls, dancing in the rain.

Fog appeared around them and covered the lawn around the chapel. Lightning struck again and again, always on a safe distant from them. Thunder rumbled above their heads, each time louder than the previous time. Wind raged over the field, letting their hair blow in their faces.

"Damon! You're ruin my wedding." She yelled in the air, laughing. Knowing he could hear after the fog comment Caroline had made.

She looked around, searching for him, scanning all the trees for a dark figure that appeared out of nowhere but didn't see anything.

"Where are you?" She looked around, trying to see something through the fog. Expecting him to just walk in on the scene.

Caroline stopped dancing and looked at her. "I think he's not here. That's why he's doing this. Just to postpone the whole thing."

"You think he can do this from a distance?" She shook her head, still amazed by his power.

"Emotions feed a vampire's power. I think he can do this, Elena." Caroline laughed and made them spin around again.

She laughed with her and enjoyed the breeze that made her feel so light, so free.

---

"You were going to say no, weren't you?" Stefan appeared behind her.

She kept looking through the window. Seeing the wind dominating the trees. The rain smashing into the windows. The weather finally reflecting her mood.

"Can you blame me?" She looked down at her intertwined hands. Noticing the wet spots on her dress.

"Yes, I can." She heard him tapping his foot on the wooden floor.

"Well, I blame you for a lot of things." She kept her voice calm and looked through the window again. Admiring the beautiful storm that seemed to dominate the whole landscape. Still waiting for the dark figure to appear from behind the trees.

He chuckled. "You mean for making Damon leave six years ago."

She shook her head. "For turning my best friend against me. For keeping me from him. For hurting me all those times. But yes, mostly for making Damon leave."

"I just want what's best for you." His voice almost sounded compassionate. He almost sounded like the Stefan she had once knew, once loved.

She turned around, locking her eyes with his. "Than let me go home. Stefan."

"Don't do this." She looked up from her place on the bed where he had put her down just moments ago.

He sat down on the edge of the bed next to her, pressing a washing cloth against the scratches on his face.

"Don't. Don't beg me. It won't change my mind." He looked down at her, stroking the pieces of hair from her forehead.

She pushed herself up and sat down next to him, taking the washing cloth from him.

"I'm so sorry." She kissed the scars on his cheek, tasting the blood on her lips.

"It's okay. I deserved it." He leaned his head to the side, letting it rest against her forehead.

"Yes, you did." She wasn't going to sugarcoat it, he had betrayed her, hurt her, destroyed her, deceived her and yet, she couldn't be angry at him anymore. All the anger had left her body the moment he had thrown his against hers. Making her feel again, making her heart heal again, making her whole again.

He just chuckled and didn't answer so she pressed the cloth against his cheek, cleaning the scars she had caused. She saw them heal underneath the blood, becoming pink scars on his skin.

"I wish my heart could heal that fast." She looked up at him, tears blurring her vision. Streaming down her cheeks and wetting her shirt.

He turned his head away from her, focusing on a painting on the wall.

She kept cleaning his scars, pushing his shirt out of the way so she could get to the ones on his neck. With every scar she cleaned, she felt something die inside of her, with every stroke of the cloth she felt a piece of her heart being ripped away, with every stroke a piece of her hope washed away until she couldn't take it anymore and pushed her head against his shoulder.

"Don't do this to me. Don't leave me. Not without taking me with you." She sobbed against his shoulder, clutching his arm between her palms, holding onto him because he could be gone any moment.

"Don't forget your promise." He kept his eyes on the wall, not brave enough to look at the girl next to him, not brave enough to take her in his arms and tell her that he would be with her for the rest of her life, that she had nothing to worry about because he was going to be beside her for as long as she wanted him to be.

"Than stay with me. Wake up next to me in the morning and I'll forget all of this. I'll forget that you lied and I'll forget that you tried to take yourself away from me. I'll forget everything about today and I'll still love you tomorrow with every piece of me, how small it may be, it will love you." She looked at the side of his face, desperate for him to turn around and tell her that he would let her love him tomorrow and the day after. That she would still be able to love him in a hundred years.

He shook his head, biting his lip to keep his emotions under control. "There isn't anyone else who can do it."

"That's a lie. You were not the only person in that room. Let someone else do it." She raised her voice, angry at him for trying to make excuses.

He turned around, his wide eyes locking with hers, shock over his face. "That's your family in there, Elena. Your friends."

She nodded her head and looked down to where she was still holding his arm. "But I will always choose you." She deliberately used his words. Because he knew the emotions that rested behind them, the truth that was concealed behind those words.

He stood up, pacing the room. "That's your brother down there." He pointed towards the parlor. "Your best friends. People you've known your whole life. People you love."

She turned around on the bed, facing the side of the room he was pacing. The tears still in her eyes and running down her cheeks. Her bloodstained hands trying to rub them out of her eyes so she could see him more clearly.

"Don't you think I know that?" She looked into his eyes, trying to understand why she couldn't live without the man in front of her. Why she would let anyone die to keep him here. She could only come up with one thing. The only thing that made sense. Because he made the love she felt for all the people in her life seem nothing in comparison to her love for him.

"You're out of your mind." He spoke through clenched teeth, his eyes and nostrils wide open from the rage in his body. Because he couldn't believe that she would let her family die for him, that she would send one of her friends to their death, maybe even all of them if she could just keep him.

She stood up, her eyes looking through the window of his bedroom. "I know that. Who in his right mind would have fallen in love with a murderous vampire that has used one of her friends as a chewing stick. Attacked her other friend and has multiple times threatened to kill one of her family members? Someone who's in their right mind wouldn't even come close to you but yet, here I am. Every chance I get I'm here with you. I crave it to be with you. Someone in their right mind would let you die so she could be saved but I can't do that. Because what I feel for you it makes me do the most stupid things. It makes me crawl into your bed in the middle of the night while Stefan is asleep just across the hall. It makes me drive across the state so I can just spend a few hours with you while you're on one of those council trips. It makes me justify the death of someone I love so I can keep you. You don't have to tell me that I'm out of my mind because I know. But I also know that I love you more than anything. And any other person who would feel this way would run into the other direction because it ends up killing you. And I've cursed you for the way you make me feel, Damon. But I'm done cursing you, I've surrendered and I've let myself feel every emotion you give me and it made me the happiest person on earth. So don't judge me for being selfish for this one time. I sacrificed enough in the last few years to be selfish for one time. I want you and you're going to stay here and you're going to wake up next to me in the morning because I swear if you don't than they can make a headstone for both of us."

During her speech she had turned around, leaning against the wooden frame of the window so she could see his reaction. So she could see the anger on his face being replaced by the guilt in his eyes.

"You've spent 145 years looking for someone that didn't want you. But I want you Damon. I want every piece of you, the good and the bad. Don't throw that away." She shook her head, her own tears still running down her face.

He looked up again, his eyes locking with hers. She could see the struggle on his face, the one side that wanted to run away so she couldn't talk him out of it and the other side that had already given in and was going to stay with her. She crumbled down to the floor, afraid for what side was going to win, afraid it was going to be the wrong side.

But then her chin was lifted up from between her knees and his lips were bruising hers. And she felt the hope she had lost a few minutes ago return to her body. Feeling her heart beating at a steady pace again, her heartbeats moving with the rhythm of the lips that were pushing against hers. Her breathing matching the moans that seem to come from into the core of her body. Her soul intertwining with his and captivating him so he was forced to stay there.

He picked her up like he had done in the parlor, her legs around his waist. Her chest pushed against his and her arms holding onto his shoulders. Only her lips hadn't been on his before, but they should have been. She should have made it clear to everyone that he couldn't die, that he could never leave her behind because he was everything to her, that she loved him more than her own life, that she rather died beside him than to live on without him.

"You're leaving me." She didn't have to ask. She felt it in his body, how his lips were saying their silent goodbye to hers, how his hands wandered over her curves like they wanted to remember every one of them. How his eyes studied her face, noticing every little detail in them so he could lock them up in his mind. How he let his hand slide between her breasts when she pulled off her blouse and bra, exposing her chest to him, the chest that held a dying heart.

He nodded, his head bumping against hers. "You would do the same for me." He pushed his lips back against hers. Unbuttoning the jeans she was wearing and pulling her legs out of them.

"But you would never allow me to do it." Her hands wandered over his bare back, trying to find a way to keep his chest pressed against hers. Finding a way to keep him inside of her and never allow him to get out.

He didn't answer her and for a moment they just stared at each other's naked bodies. Their legs folded underneath them and their vertical bodies just inches apart from each other. Remembering every pore in each other's skin, every shade in each other's eyes, every eyelash and every furrow in each other's face. Memorizing each other and locking the images away in their heart so they would never be out of reach.

"Stay with me." She whispered against his face while she let her hand trail along his jaw. Pushing her nose next to his and straddling him.

He grabbed her thighs and slowly entered her, making her body freeze with the feeling of perfection inside of her.

For a moment they just did nothing, their bodies not moving, her heart not beating and her breaths held back. They just stared at each other, marveling in the feeling of being one. Knowing that it could be the last time that they ever felt it. That maybe she wouldn't find a way to save him.

Her silent sobbing was the only sound in the room. A sound that worsened with every time he thrust slowly into her. The side of her face rubbing against his with every up and down movement. She clinging onto his shoulders because this could be the last time that she felt his skin rub against hers, sending tingles and fire through her body.

"Don't leave me." He swallowed her whimpers in his mouth, thrusting faster into her. Reflecting his own anger with every stroke.

"I want to keep you." Her body started trembling from the movement inside of her and she realized she still wasn't whole again. So she pushed her hair to one side and exposed her neck to him, seeing his face change into his true self, the vampire she wanted to spend the rest of forever with.

She studied his face and kissed the black veins around his eyes. Letting two fingers trail the fangs in his mouth. She pulled his head towards her smooth neck where he started sucking and nibbling on her skin while she pushed herself up and down on his length.

His fangs pierced her skin and she grabbed the knife on the bedside table, making a fresh cut in his shoulder. He growled in response and she closed her lips around the blood, pushing the flesh open with her tongue so she could taste more of his blood.

Damon retracted his fangs from her neck and she felt his body stiffen against her while he buried his seeds in her womb. He pulled her with him in her own climax which she experienced with the familiar trembles and shivers he released in her body. For a moment they just clung onto one another, holding the other one's body in their arms.

She licked the blood from his shoulder and released him, pulling him down with her against the covers. He draped himself across her body and took his spot on her breast. She started stroking his hair and for a while they just didn't speak, too lost in their own thoughts. Both of them worrying about something else but still about each other.

"When I told you I loved you.. did you know you were going to die?" Her voice pitched with the last words because she still couldn't believe that he was doing this to her. She was selfish for wanting to keep him here because eventually he wouldn't just save her life but also the people around her that were in danger every day. But the thought of him dying and leaving her behind made her so angry and selfish.

He nodded his head against her breast.

"And when I told you I chose you?" She looked down at him and stopped stroking his hair because if he knew back then, he would have known for such a long time. He would have been selfish enough to keep sleeping with her and making her feel more for him when he could have prevented the feelings she was experiencing now.

He pushed himself up on his arms, hovering above her body. Looking at her with pleading eyes.

"I knew all along." He stroked away the tears on her cheeks. "I knew it the first time I had you in my bed. That's why I let you in it. Because I wanted to have you just once, just to know how it felt to properly love you. But what we shared that night..." He shook his head, looking at her with so much regret on his face, so much remorse in his eyes.

"I couldn't let you go and I hated it how I wanted you more after each time. I tried to stop and I tried to ignore you but every time you would come back to me and you would crawl into my bed. I couldn't keep myself from giving you what you wanted. Because I wanted the same things. I wanted you to want me and I wanted you. I wanted you to choose me and when you did I started to search for other ways, I read every book about originals, surfed every web page, called every person I know. I don't want to leave you but this is the only way we can defeat Klaus. I begged you not to love me so I wouldn't try to find excuses to stay with you but you fell in love with me and you and I, we became us. We fell in love and we started to depend on each other, we started to have our own secrets and our own private jokes, you became me and I became you. I can't let me die, I care to much about me." He tried to make it sound teasing but she didn't look amused, she could only focus on the guilt in his eyes.

"I can't let you die, Lena. And even if you threaten to kill yourself I know you won't because you promised me. And I would do anything to stay with you. I would give everything to stay right here in your arms. And I want to be next to you for as long as you want me. I want to spend forever with you but I've been too selfish in my existence and I've taken too much. I can't have that so I'll have the next best thing. It's knowing that you'll be alive and that maybe you'll think of me from time to time, remembering what we had while you read your child a story and crawl into bed next to your husband."

She was going to ignore the comment about the child, the husband. Because she wouldn't have them. If there was anyone going to be her husband it would be him, if there was going to be any child it would be his. She only focused on the forever part that echoed in her ears.

"Stay with me. Come back to me after the fight and we can start our forever tomorrow." She cupped his beautiful face in her hands. Letting the tears cloud her vision with her new found hope.

His eyes lit up, his mouth falling open in surprise. "You would turn?"

"Of course I would. You thought I was going to go all gray and wrinkled on you? I want forever too. I want every moment of forever with you." She was surprised how steady her voice sounded. Each time Stefan asked her she would answer that she didn't know if she ever wanted to be a vampire. One time she had even answered that she didn't even knew what love was but it was impossible to not know it with the vampire that was hovering over her. The vampire that had taken over her whole life, the vampire she was begging to spend forever with her because she was sure that she wanted to turn for him. She wanted to become a monster and feed from blood bags so she could stay with him. So they could stay like this forever.

"Let's say we go on the run and I turn you. You will never see you're family again. You'll never have a human life or the kids you want so much. You'll lose everything. You'll never have a home again, dusty motels and an old Chevrolet would become your bedroom. Diners and cafes your kitchen. I'm not going to do that to you." His eyes bored into hers, disbelieve in them because he knew how she wanted to stay here and protect her family. He knew she dreamed about children, something she could never have with him. She was aware of all those things but they didn't make any difference because she knew that she would never have children and she knew that she would leave her family because when it came to him, there was nothing that stopped her from being selfish.

"But I'll have you. You will be with me in those dusty motels and in that old chevrolet of yours. I will have you next to me when I eat those hamburgers and fries in that cafe. Can't you see? That's all that matters to me. I don't need a home because I have one. You're my home."

"Let me go home, Stefan." Her eyes were pleading. Pleading him to let her go and find the man she really belonged to.

"Where is your home, Elena?" His eyes bored back into hers, sympathy in them. This was the Stefan she once knew. The Stefan that understood her and would have given her anything she wanted.

"We both know where my home is." She stepped forward and grabbed his hands.

"Don't you think he would be here if he really cared about you? I don't see him here." He looked through the window and his eyebrow furrowed in doubt.

She squeezed his hands between hers. Taking advantage of the doubt in his eyes.

"But we both know he's on his way. Bonnie's spell got overpowered and that there.." she nodded her chin to the window. "That's only the beginning of his power."

Stefan's eyes hardened again, the anger back in his features. "Bonnie cast a spell about a mile away from the chapel, he won't get through the shield. And even if he does, she cast a spell on me too. I'm stronger than him."

"What?" Her voice got stuck in her throat and she let go of his hands.

"We only want you to be save." His voice sounded so compassionate that she almost believed it, almost.

She got angry again and it made her want to rip his heart out. Knowing that she couldn't physically. She tried it emotionally. "Do you know why I always slept on your chest?" She didn't give him the time to answer. "So I would feel you move. So my throat would be out of your fangs' reach." She inhaled and cursed herself for sharing this with him but she wanted to hurt him and did it the only way she could think of. "Do you know where Damon slept?" She looked at him before answering her own question again. "Right here." She placed her hand on her breast. "He would lie here all night above my heartbeat and in the morning he would nuzzle his nose in my neck against my vein and not even once I thought about him hurting me. So don't talk about me being save because he's the safest place I know."

Stefan's nostrils were wide open and for a moment she thought that he was going to hit her again but then he opened his mouth. "If you truly believe he cares so much about you, than why didn't he come sooner. Because I didn't see him."

"That's because you weren't looking." She stepped forwards and reached for his hands again, driven by the emotions in her body. "They say that the eyes are the windows to a person's soul. Look into my eyes, Stefan. You'll see his name carved in it."

Stefan tore his eyes away from hers and stepped backwards, pulling his hands out of hers. "The chapel will be prepared in five minutes. Be ready."

He left the room and Caroline walked in with Cooper behind her.

"What did he want?" Caroline snorted and came to stand next to her.

She didn't have time to explain "Caroline, Bonnie put up a barrier a mile away from here. He can't get through."

"But if he's there, it means he escaped Elijah and that's a pretty hard thing to do." Caroline shook her head.

"You think he can do this from god knows where?" She looked at her best friend and saw her considering her question.

"To be honest.." Caroline sighed. "That dose of vervain I gave him should have put him down for a couple of days. And I don't think he could have escaped Elijah. Damon is strong but not strong enough to fight Elijah."

"Girls.." Coop interrupted. "I'm going to find Alaric, give you two a moment." He winked and left the room.

"But you vervained him yesterday. How can he do that.." She pointed outside where the wind and rain were still dominating the landscape. ".. when he's still out?"

Caroline shook her head. "Vervain shuts off a vampire's body but it doesn't affect their mind. I think Damon is just showing how powerful he really is. Warning Stefan for the time he gets here."

"I hope you're wrong."

---

"Whoever objects against this union, speak now or forever hold your peace." The minister didn't even look up from his Bible. No one had objected the first time so he didn't expect there would be objections the second time. She looked around, almost begging for someone to stand up and object. Almost expecting for Damon to jump up and perform one of his famous speeches.

The minister waited and there was a moment of silence before he opened his mouth again to move forward. The heavy wooden door of the chapel went open and every body turned around to the intruder.

Cooper walked in, trying to close the door silently behind him but failing miserably. He smiled apologetically at her and she smiled back. Stefan just rolled his eyes and told the minister to proceed.

The service went on and this time she was able to hear every word the minister said. Her mind was still busy with Caroline and Stefan's words. Caroline had been right, she didn't know much about vampire anatomy but all the vervain darts would have been enough to put him out for a couple of days. She had seen Stefan do it years ago with less.

"Stefan Salvatore, do you take Elena Gilbert for your lawful wedded wife, to live in the holy estate of matrimony? Will you love, honor, comfort, and cherish her from this day forward, forsaking all others, keeping only unto her for as long as you both shall live?"

Stefan smiled again. Flashing his white teeth in her face "Of course I do."

"Elena Gilbert, do you take Stefan Salvatore for your lawful wedded husband, to live in the holy estate of matrimony? Will you love, honor, comfort, and cherish him from this day forward, forsaking all others, keeping only unto him for as long as you both shall live?"

She opened her mouth. "Y..."

"Now Elena." the new voice behind her interrupted. She saw Stefan's eyes go wide and turned her head over her shoulder. "I would be very disappointed if you said yes."

Her knees grew weak under her dress, seeing the man behind her.

"What brings you here, Elijah?" Stefan spit out. Making her look back at his face.

Elijah ignored his question and came closer towards the altar. "I mean, we shouldn't have made the eight hour drive when you want to say yes to this man."

"We?" Stefan asked over her head, his muscles stiff in his body and his eyes boring into Elijah's face.

"Hello brother."

The velvet voice came from behind Stefan. She looked over his shoulder and her body squeezed in joy. Because her drug was back. He came back just like the last time she had seen him. Black boots, black leather jacket, his hair messy and the ocean blue eyes always present.

Stefan turned around slowly, disbelieve and anger all over his face. Because one way or another, his brother had made it through Bonnie's shield. Something he had never thought possible, something he had never been prepared for.

"Am I too late to do the whole I object thing? Because I do." He raised his eyebrows and sent Stefan a mocking expression. "I object."

The minister broke the tension between the two vampires. "I'm sorry young man but you are too late."

"Damon." The whisper escaped her mouth before she could hold it back. Her whole body was fighting her mind to get to him. To push her skin against his and never let it go again. Her heart was calling his name, whispering it through her voice.

The ocean blue eyes became soft and focused on her terrified face. Brown doe eyes met piercing blue ones and everything around them seemed to disappear. The chapel wasn't there anymore, only her beating heart that echoed in her ears. There were no people around them, only two bodies that were demanding each other's presence. All the pain in her heart was swallowed in his soul, carrying it for her so she would never have to feel it again. Time had no meaning anymore, the years he had been away didn't matter anymore, the moments that were stolen from them would never come back. But none of it mattered, because he was back. And he brought her back home, he brought her heart with him, the missing pieces of her soul, the strength of her body, the laugh on her tearful face. He brought back her other half, the half that had been missing for so many years. He brought it back and made her one again.

"Ask me why." His eyes left hers for just a second as he glanced to the minister and back to her. "Ask me why I object."

The minister shook his head. "I'm afraid you're too late for that."

"Why?" Tears streamed down her face as she kept her eyes on the man she had been fighting for the past six years. The man that had become her whole world, her whole future. The man that had been ripped away from her because he had been a danger to her. A danger she had approached, had loved.

"Because I was a fool six years ago. I was a scared little boy that ran away because I couldn't deal with what I felt about you. I should have come back after that fight, I should have walked through that door. I should have come back the moment I realized that they were trying to fool me. I was a fool for thinking that I did the right thing." He shook his head, his face drowned in a sad and guilty expression.

"And when I came back.." He shook his head again. "You were engaged to another man and I couldn't have you. But still you just let me in. You didn't ask any questions and opened your arms for me. You still loved me after everything I put you through and I just started to imagine having you back like I used to." He chuckled softly. "I wanted back those times when you would wake me up in the middle of the night and demand that I would get you ice-cream. I remember coming home and finding you asleep on the couch where you had been waiting for me. You would wake up like you felt I was there and smile at me with your tousled hair. I picked you up from the couch and carried you upstairs to bed where you snuggled into me and asked me about my day. You would fall asleep before I got two words out but for some reason that didn't matter. Because I never felt more at home than when you would lay asleep on that couch, waiting for me or when you left those little notes on my night table with the most craziest messages on them. It made me want to spend every moment with you, it made me get up with you in the morning and drive you to school every chance I got so I could just spend a few minutes with you. But I couldn't keep you, you were so young and I was scared that you would change your mind about me, about us, about everything. I couldn't tell you I loved you. If I had, I would have never been able to let you go again. But I did and I still do. I never stopped loving you."

Tears streamed down her cheeks and her heart started to beat so much faster than healthy. "But it's the only thing I want.." She looked at his beautiful face and locked their eyes. "I want you, I was us. I want everything that is us. I never stopped wanting you, not even for a second. How could you think that I would change my mind? After all the times I told you that I loved you, that I didn't want to live without you. I never changed my mind, I still love you more than anything and I still want you more than anyone."

"Then walk with me through that door." He pointed his arm to the dark wooden door of the chapel. "And I promise I'll get you ice-cream every night if you want me to. And I'll let you love me tomorrow and the day after. And you'll still be able to love me in five hundred years if that's what you want. Because I'm not leaving again and I'll be there next to you for as long as you want me to be."

"Even if I want you to stay forever?" Her voice pitched while the tears kept streaming down her face.

He nodded his head, his face still serious . "Forever is all I'm asking for."

A smile crept around their lips as they kept their eyes locked, their expressions mirroring on each other's faces. She stopped weeping and lifted the skirt of her dress up, ready to walk in his waiting arms. Ready to receive her heart back from him.

"I didn't think so." Stefan moved his body in front of her when she tried to ran off the altar.

She saw Damon move forward but being pulled back by Cooper who just gave him a warning expression. Damon nodded his head and stepped backwards while Cooper stepped towards them.

She looked at Cooper with a confused face. "Cooper. What are you doing? Get back."

Cooper just looked strange at her and pulled up his eyebrow. Moving forward and putting his body between hers and Stefan.

"Cooper, you don't want to stand between them." She grabbed his arms and tried to push him out of the way.

He shrugged. "I'm not standing between them. I'm standing between you and them."

"Coop." She shook her head.

"Do you remember what I told you this morning?" He lifted his hand up and started caressing her tearful face.

She nodded her head.

"I did my part. It's time to do yours." His face was more serious than she had ever seen it. More mature than she could have ever imagined.

"What are you talking about?" She shook her head again. Looking around the chapel and pausing her gaze at Damon who's expression she couldn't read.

"I mean it's time to run." He grabbed her arm and shoved her off the altar. When she threw a curious look in Stefan's direction he added. "You'll be safe. GO!"

She walked past Cooper, waiting for Stefan to stop her. But he just kept his place, his body and eyes frozen, like he was unable to move.

Seeing that he wouldn't move, she turned around and started running to the place where Cooper had stopped Damon from moving forward. The place where she would finally be reunited with him.

The train of her white dress floated behind her while she ran as fast as she could towards the man she loved. The man that possessed her, body and soul, in life and in death. The man that had never claimed her as his but that never had to, because she was his, she had never been anyone else's. He owned her as much as she owned him.

"All I could do was give into him."

"I couldn't leave him. I would have let him destroy me if that meant I could stay forever with him."

"I would have ripped the world apart to find him. I would have torn it apart, to get to him."

"If he was going to die he was going to pull me with him too."

"He was my life once."

"If Damon dies, I'll be right behind him."

All those words were swimming in her mind, the way he had made her feel, the way he had hurt her. They way she hadn't been able to resist him. The way she still couldn't resist the man that was waiting for her. Because even when everyone had tried to pull her away from him, she was still running to him.

"Loving him, it's a curse."

"It's never going to be easy to love Damon."

"You're not going to give him up are you?"

"He broke your heart."

"You would do anything to get him back."

"He set you free."

"He didn't need the distractions anymore because he found the real thing."

"He's not going to let her marry his brother."

Warm arms wrapped around her cold body. Demanding lips bruised her mouth. Bodies melted into each other. Hearts were collided. Souls were intertwined. Nerves were eased. Emotions became heightened. All the pain, all the heartbreak, the longing, the lust, hate, love. Every memory she ever had with one of those feelings twirled around in her head.

"I left you to be happy." - "Be happy? How could I be happy? You weren't here."

"I can't have you." - "I won't have anybody else but you."

"Loving you, it was the easiest and hardest thing I've ever done."

"I lost you and got you back and it's more than I could ever wish for."

"Promise me you'll find me." - "I promise."

"I need you to choose." - "I choose you."

"Tell me you're mine." - "You own me."

"What if I'll never learn how to love someone?" - "I"ll love enough for the both of us."

"This is were I belong." - "Yes it is, but not yet."

She pulled her lips away from his mouth and opened her eyes. Staring into the ocean blue eyes that would forever remain her home.

"I'm finally where I belong." Her voice was a barrel of emotions, not knowing which one to express first.

He nodded his head and pressed a soft kiss against her swollen lips. "Yes you are."

His voice gave her goosebumps, shivers went through her back, her heart skipped a beat. All her physical reactions to his touch were back and she savored every one of them.

"I love you." She cupped his beautiful face in her hands. "I love you so much. And it has scared me for a long time." She looked in his eyes and smiled."But I'm not afraid of the way I feel about you, not anymore. Because I've lived without you and it almost killed me. So I don't need to be scared anymore because you're the only thing that's keeping me alive."

A single tear streamed down his face and she smiled up at him, her whole face lightening up with his presence. A whole body started to crave for his touch. Her whole soul started to demand its other half back. Her heart started beating faster to release its love for him.

She pressed her lips against his again, again and again. Her hands nestling and finding their spot in the black raven hair to pull his whole body into hers. His hands fondling every inch of her back and face to press every piece of her closer against every piece of him.

Their lips were still moving synchronized when Damon removed his hands from her back and grabbed the sides of his head. She fell with him on the floor and cradled his body in her arms.

"Damon what's wrong?" She cradled his head in her lap.

He didn't answer. And she had been stupid to ask because she had seen this many times before. Bonnie who was in full trance, her eyes focused on Damon and her chin up.

"Bonnie! Stop it!" Her scream echoed between the walls of the chapel.

But Bonnie didn't stop and Damon kept biting his lip to keep himself from screaming. She realized there was only one way to stop his pain. So she placed his head gently on the ground and got up, running in Bonnie's direction who was still standing on the altar next to Caroline.

"Bonnie! Please stop!" She shook her friends body.

Bonnie didn't look at her but kept her gaze on Damon and lifted her chin higher. Damon started screaming behind her, obviously in more pain than before. And it made her heart ache, her soul ripping apart, her body uneasy.

"Bonnie, please." She shook her friend again. "I know you blame him for a lot of things. I know you blame him for Jeremy but it wasn't his fault. Please stop."

Bonnie's eyes focused on her face and Damon stopped screaming."Did you forget about Lucy? He killed Lucy!"

Her breath got stuck in her throat. "No." She shook her head. "He wasn't the one who killed Lucy." Tears streamed down her face as she found the strength to reveal her long kept secret. "I did."

"I should go." He lifted his head up from the place on her breast.

She shook her head. "I told you. You're not going anywhere."

She tightened the grip on his neck and shoulders. Holding him in her arms and pressing his naked body firmly against hers so he couldn't get away.

"Than at least let me go talk to Lucy. She has to find another way." He tried to move out of her hold but she just pulled him back against her bare chest.

"Stop lying." She grabbed the back of his head and pushed it back down against her breast.

This time he lifted himself up and broke her hold with his back. Using his vampire speed to get to the other end of the room where he had dropped his clothes.

She stepped out of the bed and pulled the black sheet off it, wrapping it around her breasts and placing her body in front of the door.

He pulled on his boots and sighed.

She kept her place in front of the door, her back pressed against it so he wouldn't be able to get to the handle.

He walked towards her, slowly and placed his hands against the wall, one arm on each side of her. His face only inches away from hers, she could feel his warm breath on her face.

"You can't keep me in here and you know it." He leaned forward and pressed his nose against hers, letting their foreheads rest against each other.

She removed one hand from the sheet she was holding and started caressing his face. "Can you blame me for trying?"

He chuckled and pressed his lips against hers. She felt his hand at her side and grabbed it. Holding it away from the handle. He smiled against her mouth and drove his hips into hers, making her moan in response.

They stayed like that for a few minutes. He making her whole body ache for his touch and she totally forgetting about the handle behind her back. Until suddenly he grabbed it and pulled the door open, pushing her against the wall and walking through it.

She stumbled backwards before regaining her balance and following him down the stairs where she could see John and Lucy's shocked faces appear.

"Damon!" She yelled his name a few times, praying for him to turn around and change his mind but he just kept walking.

John tried to approach him but he just walked past the man and yelled. "Keep her here."

She started running, seeing the distance between them become larger and larger with every second until John's arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her back.

"Damon!" She struggled against John's hold while the man she loved just kept walking towards the door.

"I love you." Tears streamed down her eyes and she felt John's body stiffen behind her.

But it didn't have any effect on Damon, he grabbed his jacket and pulled it on while she kept screaming his name, I love you's and kept begging him not to leave her. He just ignored her and pulled the door open.

"Let them die."

He paused halfway from opening the door and she just kept sobbing and struggling in John's arms.

"Let them die, Damon. Let them all die."

This was her selfish side, the side that would do anything, say anything to keep him here. The side of her that was never thinking clearly when it came to him. The side of her that usually won these days because keeping him was the most selfish thing she would ever do. It was the side she had fought for years. The years she had tried to be selfless and had succeeded in it. But those years were gone and she had lost too many people she loved. And now she was about to lose the person she loved more than she had ever loved anyone.

"Just stay with me."

Her body was giving up, shutting down, turning off her emotions so it didn't have to say goodbye to him. So it didn't have to miss him so much that it would hurt more than she could bare.

He slammed the door shut and turned around, walking fast in her direction.

She extended her arms and pushed her body forward in John's hold, already waiting for his skin to touch hers.

John's arms were replaced with the familiar strong arms and her lips parted to grant his tongue access to her mouth.

After a few minutes, he pulled back and started stroking her hair, his eyes boring into hers and his face covered in regret.

"Sometimes I wish I had never met you." He put his finger on her lips when she tried to answer. "My life was a lot easier back then. The only thing I had to worry about was having a blond or brunette for lunch. I thought I had it all."

He leaned down and pressed his lips against hers, pressing his hips into hers.

"But then I met you. And you gave me a reason to care, to feel again. And when I did you started to feel for me too. We became friends and after a while we became more." He shook his head and smiled.

"I saw you waking up next to me and you would snuggle your nose into my neck and place kisses on my cheek. Doing everything in your power to keep me in that bed because you wanted me there, you wanted to be with me. And I realized that I didn't have anything before you. I found everything in you. I had it all with you."

He lowered his head again and pressed another kiss against her mouth, stroking her hair and caressing her face.

"My girl, my beautiful girl." He placed kisses on her bare shoulder and neck, inhaling her scent for one last time.

She nodded against the side of his head. "Your girl. I'm yours." The hope in her voice made her eyes come back to life.

"I know you are. You are as much mine as I am yours." He trailed his nose down her neck again and placed a kiss against her collarbone.

"And I love you as much as you love me." Her voice pitched because he had never said it. Because he had only said it one time, the time he lay on his deathbed. But she knew, she had always known.

"When did I say I love you?" He stopped her when she was about to remember him that he mouthed the words. "I never said it out loud."

She looked up at him and smiled, seeing right through the facade he tried to keep up.

"I know you do. I know that Alaric offers you every time your drunk to stay at his apartment but you always come home to me, even if Alaric's place is much closer to the grill. I know you skip council meetings in the holidays so you can spend time with me. And I know that I'm the only person that's allowed to drive your car besides you."

"The car gave me away, huh?" He raised his eyebrow and stared at her face.

She nodded and smiled at him. "That. And you talk in your sleep."

He smiled again but not his usual smile, a smile that was full of regret, the regret she could see in his eyes. He looked at John and nodded his head. She just stared up confused at his face.

But then she felt John's arms wrap around her again and Damon pulled his back. Placing a kiss on her forehead. And she got it.

"No." She grabbed the sleeve of his jacket and pulled him back, kicking her legs against John's knees.

"Don't forget your promise."

Damon took her hand in his and kissed her knuckles before he let go of her and walked towards the door again. Turning the handle and disappearing out of her sight.

Screams and sobs filled the room until they saw the blue chevy turn off the driveway. Her body went numb in John's arms and he placed her gently on the couch next to them.

"Alaric is going to arrive any minute. We should pack our things. The rest of the group already left." Lucy came to stand behind the couch and looked at John.

He tried to get up but Elena grabbed the hem of his button-up. "Do you want your daughter to be a vampire?"

His eyes went wide and he looked at her in shock.

"Because if not. You better find another way." She stood up and looked him in the eyes, knowing that he would never let her turn into the thing he hated the most.

He composed himself and crossed his arms. "And how would you do that?"

She let out a hard laugh. "It's not that difficult when you have vampire blood in your system."

John's eyes went wide again and Lucy walked around the couch, grabbing her arm and releasing it again.

"Damon's blood."

She turned to Lucy. "Very good. So what's the other way?"

Lucy shook her head. "There isn't another way."

She shook her head and crossed her arms. "There is always another way."

John interrupted before Lucy could speak again. "It could kill us both. Lucy would have to channel too much power."

She nodded her head and turned back to John. "And why would it kill you?"

Lucy came to stand next to John. "Because I would channel Damon's power in John's body. There is a chance that the dagger mistakes him for Damon and kills him."

"But it's only a chance? There is a chance that you both die? But if Damon does it, he will die." She looked from the witch to John and back.

Lucy nodded her head. "Elena, I know this is really hard for you to understand but Damon is the one who's most likely to get to him. John would still be weaker even with Damon's power."

"But you could all survive this. Isn't that the most important thing?" Her voice went soft again, forgetting her selfish side for a moment.

"Ele -"

Lucy was interrupted by John who stepped forward and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"We'll do it, on one condition."

She nodded her head and waited for him to continue.

"There is still a chance that Damon won't survive this, even if I take his place. If he doesn't make it, you have to promise that you'll stay human."

She threw her arms around John, who was surprised by the gesture and whispered in his ear.

"I promise."

It wasn't like she was going to turn without Damon by her side or even live without him.

They heard Alaric's car on the driveway and she released John, who grabbed his jacket and went to talk to Alaric. Lucy stared at her for a moment and followed John.

"Oh, Elena?"

She turned around and faced the witch.

"Congratulations, you're a real Petrova."

"I was the one who forced John and Lucy to do it. So blame me, not him. Because he didn't know." She looked down at the ground where her dress was draped around her, ashamed of what she had just confessed.

"No." Bonnie shook her head in disbelieve.

She looked up and nodded her head. "I couldn't give him up so I threatened John and he decided to go through with it."

Tears streamed down Bonnie's face and she kept her gaze on the bride. "How could you?"

"Because I had lost so many people I loved. I couldn't let another one die that easily." She looked up at Bonnie. "But you knew, didn't you? You knew I loved him. That's why you agreed to Stefan's plan. That's why you wanted Damon to die and when that didn't work out you told him I was dead so he would leave. You knew I would leave Stefan for him. You were my best friend, you knew me better than anyone."

Bonnie's face became angry and her teeth clenched. "You and him, it's a lie."

"No." She shook her friend once more. "It's the absolute truth."

"You knew Lucy Bennett?" Cooper's voice came from behind them and broke the atmosphere between the two girls. "When you talked about Lucy this morning...that was Lucy Bennett?"

Her eyes focused on Cooper's pained face. "Yes, how do you know her?"

He looked up, his face full of sorrow. "My mom trained us both."

"Coop, what?" She shook her head in confusion.

"He's the witch." Bonnie's eyes traveled over Coop's body.

Before Cooper could speak again, there was a loud crash. The organ of the chapel broke in two pieces and Damon stood up, throwing Stefan off him.

When he tried to launch himself again at Damon, Elijah blocked his way and threw him a warning glance.

Stefan's eyes looked around frantically and paused on Elena's terrified face. Before she could even blink, his body launched for hers, his fangs ready to plunge themselves in her skin.

She closed her eyes, waiting for the blow on her body. Instead, she felt herself floating backwards and heard an angry Caroline growl.

Her back came in contact with a wall and she opened her eyes again, locking with murderous blue ones. Behind his strong back she saw Caroline and Stefan fighting. Cooper and Bonnie chanting.

"Damon. I'm so glad you're not dead." Alaric approached them from the side.

Damon turned around and shook his head. "Not the time for a reunion, buddy." He looked back at her. "Get her out of here."

"Damon, NO!" She pulled him back when he tried to leave. "He's stronger than you. Bonnie put a spell on him."

Damon shook his head, different emotions crossing his face before he settled for determined. "All the more reasons to get you out of here."

"Damon." She pulled him back against her body and pushed her arms around his back. "I'm not leaving you."

"Elena." His voice sounded tired. "I can't be distracted with your safety. I can't watch you every second and still fight a tuned Stefan." He rolled his eyes.

She pushed herself up and captured his lips. "Don't die again."

He started to entangle their bodies and kissed her forehead. "I'm not planning on it."

---

Alaric left her on the couch in her old childhood home. Letting her stare out of the window, waiting for a blue Chevy to arrive. Waiting for that door to open. Waiting for any sign that indicated she could finally start her life with the man she loved.

Her whole body was twisting and turning on the couch, already regretting the decision she had made when she left the chapel. He always made her do the most stupid things and now she was just looking for a way to get back to him. To save him, throw herself in front of him if she had to. Because this time he wasn't going anywhere without her.

"So I guess you found out about Cooper?"

The voice came from behind her and she turned around. Taking in the appearance of the woman, long black hair in a ponytail, brown eyes like her own, the fitting black jeans showing off her long legs, black heels under them and the ever present smirk on her face.

"You always show up at the wrong time." She grumbled and turned back to the window, still waiting for the blue convertible to turn up.

The female vampire stepped around the couch and plopped herself down next to her. Inspecting her nails while humming a song Elena didn't recognize.

She sighed. "Okay, I'll bite. How do you know Cooper?"

"I thought you were never going to ask." She straightened herself and turned her body towards Elena. "Eight years ago, a man came to me. Begging me to help his sick wife. I wasn't tempted at first but after some research I learned something very interesting."

Elena nodded her head. "He was a witch."

"And not just any witch. One of the most powerful ones out there." She nodded her head towards the window.

"But Cooper didn't know of vampires until Damon saved us in Richmond." Elena looked up at the vampire with a confused face.

"We'll get to that part later." She turned her head around and stared out the window. "I gave his wife my blood and she got better. Of course I made him promise to repay me later and he did." She sighed and turned her head back towards Elena. "Seven years later he came back, claiming that his wife was sick again, the cancer had spread through her whole body. I gave her my blood again but this time it didn't help and the pain stayed. I suppose even vampire blood can't cure cancer. She refused to become a vampire but she wanted to die, like really die." The vampire rolled her eyes. "Cooper couldn't do it so I took care of it. To pay his debt I assigned him as your personal bodyguard. I told him that you could never know what he was or who had send him."

Elena nodded her head in understanding and looked up again. "It wasn't money." She clarified when the vampire pulled up her eyebrow. "The first time he had to repay you. You didn't ask for money."

The woman in front of her smiled and shook her head. "No, it wasn't money."

"Than what was it?" Elena sat up straighter and waited impatient for the answer.

The vampire was lost in her thoughts before she made up her mind. "I asked him to look into your future. You're my daughter, I was always curious about you." She shrugged.

"What did he see?"

"Something I never wanted him to see. Something I never thought possible." A shiver went through her shoulders, like she remembered the most awful thing she had ever seen.

Understanding washed over her as she looked at Isobel. "He saw Damon." The whisper escaped her mouth as she thought further about her previous encounters with her biological mother. "That's why you knew he loved me that day on the town's square. Because Cooper had seen him long before that. He saw me and Damon didn't he?"

Isobel nodded her head. "Imagine that. He's probably the last person a mother wants to see her daughter with. And there it was, right in front of my eyes. Even before you met him or Stefan or before your parents died. He was in your future before you even laid your eyes on him. Can you blame me for trying to keep you away from him?" She looked away again, thinking about something. "Like the twilight-chick always says.." She looked back at Elena. "The future isn't set in stone..." She shook her head again. "..but Damon was set in yours."

She chuckled and Isobel looked up at her with a strange look on her face."Jenna bought me the Twilight Saga for my birthday. Damon threw them in the garbage before I could read them, claiming they were an insult for his kind. The next day he came home with a bunch of Anne Rice books."

"He was right." Isobel nodded her head and looked at her with a thoughtful face. "Maybe he isn't such a bad influence on you."

She chuckled and looked at the door behind Isobel again. Praying for it to open and revealing Damon.

Isobel noticed her staring. "He needs to walk through that door, doesn't he?"

She nodded her head because she had been waiting like this once before. The ache in her chest anxiously waiting for him to walk through that door and start their life together.

"I'm sure they'll be fine." Alaric's voice pulled her away from her death stare at the door.

"You don't know that." She turned around and hugged the pillow she was holding tighter to her chest.

"There are two powerful witches, three vampires and two humans with a ring that brings them back to life. I don't think we have to worry too much." Alaric sounded sure but she could see in his eyes that he was as much afraid as her.

"I just hope their plan works." Most of all, she just wanted Damon to come back home in one piece and alive.

"I still don't know how you got John and Lucy to do this. We tried to persuade them for months to find another way." Alaric shook his head in disbelieve.

"They have a chance to make it out alive, Damon doesn't. I just pointed that out." She looked through the window again. Tracing the empty street for headlights.

"For claiming to hate him, you go through a lot of trouble to protect him." Alaric smiled and downed his bourbon.

She chuckled. "I never really hated him, I just couldn't forgive him for what he did to Jeremy."

But she had, she forgave him a long time ago. She forgave him the first night he made love to her, the night he had made her his and ruined her for all other men. The night she had intertwined her soul with his for the first time and felt whole again after a long time of feeling empty. She forgave him the first night she had to restrain her heart from loving him.

Headlights turned up the driveway and she jumped up from the couch. Trying to recognize the car.

"Sit down." Alaric pushed her back in her seat and moved to the door.

The door rang and Alaric pushed himself up to look through the peephole. His face lighted up and he unlocked the door. Pulling it open and letting Caroline with a sobbing Bonnie in her arms inside.

"Caroline!"She jumped up from the couch and hugged her friend. "I'm so glad you guys are okay." She sighed. "What happened?" She turned towards Bonnie and rubbed her friend's back.

Caroline lead Bonnie to the couch and placed her on it. Elena sat down next to her and put the pillow she had been holding back in her lap.

Bonnie started sobbing harder. "Lucy died." She buried her head in Elena's shoulder. "That son of a bitch convinced her to do the other spell. Even if he knew it was going to kill both of them." She pulled her head back up and bored her wide eyes into Elena's. "John and Lucy both died, Elena. We should have never trusted him. We should have never trusted Damon."

"Bon - "

She was about to explain to her friend that Damon wasn't the reason for the death of her cousin. That her own best friend had pushed her niece into her death. That she had killed her own biological father because she had been too selfish to make any sacrifices.

But the door rang again and all three girls on the couch turned to the hallway where Alaric let Jeremy inside who had a few scratches on his face.

He ran towards Bonnie and hugged her tight. Placing a kiss on her forehead and squeezing his sister's hand next to him.

"Jeremy, where are Damon and Stefan?" She looked back at the door, expecting them to follow right after her brother.

"Stefan told me to wait for him here. He said it could take a while." Jeremy looked up from Bonnie's face and smiled at his sister.

She smiled back. "But they're okay right?"

Jeremy nodded his head. "Yeah, they're okay."

"Okay." She sighed in relieve, knowing that Damon was okay and that he would be here later. But the ache in her heart increased with that thought and she had to hold her chest to stop it. "I'm just going to call them." She grabbed her phone from the table and ran upstairs to her room.

She dialed Damon's number and put the phone to her ear, not caring about the fact that he was with Stefan at the moment and that he would have to answer questions about why she was calling him. She just had to hear his voice, just to make sure he was okay and to let that hole in her chest stop aching.

The phone rang a few times and went to voicemail. There was no greeting just the beeping sound.

"Hi, it's me. I just wanted to make sure you're okay. I'm staying at Jenna's house so if it gets late, I'll leave the window open. Wake me up if I'm asleep, okay? Who am I kidding? I probably won't sleep until you're here." She whispered in her phone and chuckled. "I just want to hug you and kiss you and tell you I love you. You know after tomorrow you're going to be obligated to say it back right? Because we're telling Stefan tomorrow and I'll shower you with I love you's until you say it back." She chuckled again and looked outside the window where the familiar blue Chevy turned on the driveway. "Oh, never mind. You're here. I love you. See you in a few seconds."

She ended the call and ran downstairs, a huge smile on her face when she heard Alaric open the door and greet Stefan.

She turned around the corner and saw Stefan. Alaric held the door open and looked outside. She just jumped up and down, waiting for Damon to step through the door.

Alaric turned back to Stefan. "Stefan, where's Damon? Because I have this really expensive bottle of scotch to celebrate and I'm not going to share it with a bunch of 17 year olds."

There were a few mutters of protest and Stefan turned to Alaric. "He isn't coming."

Her smile faded and she tried to remember their conversation this morning, the one before she found out he was planning on dying. He told her he would walk through that door if he made it. And he had made it.

Alaric's smile faded too and she could see the surprise on his face. "Oh. I'll have to keep it for tomorrow."

Stefan shook his head. "He won't be here tomorrow either. He left town."

"What?" She couldn't hold back the shout that escaped her mouth. "Where is Damon?" She stepped forward and came to stand right in front of Stefan.

"He left Elena." Stefan shrugged. "He had nothing to stay for."

She put her chin up and crossed her arms like a stubborn child. "He has me."

"He's not going to stay for the one friend he has.." Alaric started protesting. "..and for a drinking buddy." Stefan fumbled with the keys in his hands.

She noticed the keys of the Chevy and pointed to them. "He would never let you drive his car. You know he wouldn't let you. He's going to kill you when he finds out."

Stefan sighed."He gave me the car keys and his phone himself when I dropped him off at the airport."

"Give them to me." She grabbed the keys out of his hands and held her hand out for the phone. "Give me the phone, Stefan."

Stefan pulled the phone out of his jacket and placed it in her waiting hand."He turned it off and I don't know his PIN. So it won't be of any use."

"That doesn't matter." She plopped herself down on the couch and pulled her legs up in front of her, staring at the door. "He'll have to answer to me before he gets them back."

She would get some answers before she gave him his stuff back. He was worrying her unnecessary after the stress she had gone through tonight. He knew she didn't like to worry about him and yet he was scaring the shit out of her. It made her so angry that he would have to go buy his liquor in another town because she was planning on vervaining every bottle she could find in Mystic Falls.

Stefan sighed and grabbed the handle of the front door. "He's not coming back, Elena." He pulled the door open. "I need a drink, who's coming with me?"

The rest of the group agreed and left her behind on the couch. She listened to the silence in the house and grabbed the phone. Turning it on and inserting his PIN, her birthday. The device lightened up and her missed call and message popped up the screen, she deleted them and went back to the home screen. There was a picture of them set as the background. She had never seen it before and she didn't know when it was taken but it showed her with a wide smile on her face and Damon pushing his lips against her cheek, her eyes were closed but her one hand was tangled in his hair and the other was cupping his cheek, pulling him closer to her.

All she could see was two people so happy, so free, so in love that she would kill to be them. But she was a part of them and she had killed. So the only thing she could do was sit by the door and wait for the other part of them to arrive.

"The last time I waited here for him, he didn't show up and I can't go through that again." She shook her head and fumbled with the black phone in her hands, the one she had started using six years ago, the one that still had the same background on it as when he left it behind.

"I can't believe I'm saying this." Isobel shook her head and stood up, lifting her purse from the ground. "Get your stuff, I'll drive you."

---

"This is as far as I go." Isobel parked the car in front of the chapel.

Elena jumped out the car and looked around her, Damon's blue convertible was parked across the street, the red carpet in front of the church was ripped to shreds and the door of the chapel stood wide open.

She turned around again. "Thank you.. for Cooper and for .. this."

"It was about time to take responsibility for my daughter. Who knows, maybe in fifty years we'll be sipping mojito's on a beach somewhere." Isobel smiled.

"I wouldn't count on it." She slammed the door shut and ran to the open door of the chapel. Carefully entering the empty room.

"Elena!" Caroline's voice yelled from somewhere in the back of the chapel.

She ran towards the altar and found Caroline bending over two motionless bodies.

"Damon!" She sat down next to him and cradled his lifeless body in her hands. "No baby, don't do this to me." She shook his shoulders and slapped his cheek. "Just wake up." Her tears streamed over his face as she placed kisses everywhere on his skin. Pulling him back to her.

"Elena." Caroline grabbed her shoulder and squeezed it. "He's fine. Stefan got to him with vervain but Elijah checked him out and he's going to be okay in a couple of hours."

"Thank god." She leaned her forehead against his and caressed his face with soft strokes. "What happened to Cooper?"

"He used too much power. He broke the spell so Damon could get here and then he lifted the spell from Stefan so Damon would have a chance against him. And after that he erased the memories of the guests so they wouldn't remember anything that happened in here."

"Where are Bonnie and Stefan?" She looked around, hugging Damon's body closer to her.

"Elijah took them with him. Bonnie lost her powers, Cooper took them from her." Caroline started stroking Cooper's face.

"Is he going to be okay?" She looked at Cooper's pale face and the sobbing Caroline next to him.

Caroline nodded her head. "Elijah said they would be fine in a few hours."

"Let's get them home." Elena stood up, ready to lift the two men from the floor into Caroline's car.

"Elena. No, you should be in the hospital." Caroline looked up at her confused.

"Why?"

"Don't you know?" Caroline furrowed her brow. "Jenna got hurt during the fight, they need your blood."

"What?" Her voice echoed through the chapel.

"I don't know what happened but you need to get to the hospital. Alaric was supposed to take you there." Caroline placed Coop's head on the ground and stood up besides her.

She looked at Damon's body on the ground. "I'm not going anywhere without him. Bad things happen when I leave him."

"Elena." Caroline shook her body. "It's Jenna." She looked down at the two men on the ground. "I'll take care of them, of him. I promise, nothing will happen and in an hour or two he'll be back in your arms but at this moment Jenna needs you more than Damon."

She looked from Caroline's face to Damon and back. "You'll call me if he wakes up, right?"

Caroline nodded her head positive. "Yes Elena. I'll take care of him."

She stepped backwards, her eyes still on Damon's motionless body on the ground, the tears in her eyes increasing with the thought of leaving him again.

Caroline searched Damon's pockets and threw his car keys in her hands. "GO!"

---

"So tell me about your husband."

The nurse sat down next to her and started inserting a needle in one of the veins in her arm. Jenna had lost a lot of blood. Testing her blood type would have taken too long so they started her on O negative but the doctors thought it would be better to give Jenna her own blood type. Alaric only knew that she had the same type as Elena but didn't know what it was. When she told them, that they both were AB negative the doctors insisted on taking her blood because the blood bank already ran low on their blood type. That's how she ended up in this room with the older nurse, still wearing her white wedding dress.

"We didn't get married." She smiled softly at the nurse and looked down at the phone, waiting for Caroline to call her.

The nurse applied a white plaster on the needle in her arm so it would stay put and looked up again. "So tell me about the man you were about to marry."

Elena looked at her phone again and thought back on the Stefan from six years ago. The one she had loved. "He's kind.. and faithful.. reliable..he's trustworthy."

The nurse looked disappointed. "Come on.." She raised her eyebrow in a critical way. "..tell me more about the man you love."

The woman looked at her like she knew there was a difference between the man she was about to marry and the man she loved. It was like she knew that she had ran away from the altar to start her life with another man.

Elena chuckled and a smile appeared on her face, her body relaxed and her head leaned against the back of the couch. "Do you think it's possible to miss someone before you even met them?"

"I think it is." The older woman nodded.

"It feels like I did. There was always an empty spot in my life, something that was missing. He came into town and that spot had been filled before I even realized it." She chuckled.

The nurse laughed too. "Tell me more."

She looked at the smile of the woman and her body felt so comfortable in her presence. This was the kind of woman you talked to when you needed to talk and she wanted to talk about this, to someone that wouldn't judge. To someone she would never see again after tonight.

So she relaxed in her seat and smiled at the nurse. "He drives me crazy, he does this thing with his eyes that makes you want to punch him. And he has this always present smirk on his face that seems to mock your every word. My family and friends hate him, but you can't really blame them because he acts like a total jerk around them." She shook her head again and laughed. "He's so stubborn and he speaks before he thinks. He's cocky, arrogant and he doesn't give a damn about what somebody else thinks about him. He doesn't pretend to be someone else and I like that a lot, because it makes him real."

The woman smiled at her and shook her head. "Does he have any good qualities?"

She chuckled and nodded her head. "He makes me laugh with the most silliest things. And he's always honest with me even if it will hurt my feelings. We fight about the most stupid things but he never leaves before we make it up. He doesn't trust anyone but he never doubts me. He doesn't tell me what to do but he just gives me advice and prevents me from doing anything too stupid. And even if I do something stupid, he doesn't get mad he just makes fun of me until I admit that it wasn't the smartest idea I ever had." She stopped rattling and sighed. "I hate the way he makes me feel. I never wanted to be that girl that spends every second with her boyfriend but I miss him after two seconds. And I'm always so worried about him because he always gets into trouble. If I had my way, I would keep him in my arms so nothing can happen to him. I love him so much that my life doesn't seem to make sense when he isn't there."

"He sounds like a bad boy." The nurse smiled at her.

She nodded her head and laughed. "He is."

The nurse smiled. "I fell for a bad boy once."

"What happened?" She looked at the older woman curious and waited anxiously for her reply.

"My family hated him and tried to keep us apart so we ran away together. We moved to a different state and never registered our address so they wouldn't be able to find us." The nurse shrugged.

"Do you regret it?"

The older woman looked up and locked their eyes. "Choosing him? No. Because we've been married for over 35 years and we have three beautiful children. Every night I come home to the person I love the most in the world and I am happier than I could every be. Sure, he's still an asshole and he still says things that hurt me but it's who he is and I wouldn't want him any other way because it made us stronger and it made us fight for each other. And of course I regret hurting my family but I knew what I wanted and I don't regret for a second that I chose this life. I have my own family now and I know why I've hurt mine and it was worth it."

"How did you know it was the right choice?"

"I didn't." The nurse shrugged again. "But I took the risk and it turned out to be the best thing I ever did. And everyday I ask myself why I put up with his bullshit but then I come home and he takes me in his arms and whispers those three little words in my ear and I know why I put up with it."

"Because you love him more than anything." Elena whispered, knowing that it was the reason why she put up with Damon. Why she forgave him all the times he had hurt her.

"Because you do." The nurse confirmed. "And you would kill anyone that threatens to take it away from you."

Elena nodded, knowing the feeling. Because she had killed people that threatened to take Damon away from her. And she had never regretted it even if he stayed away all those years. It had been worth it. Because she couldn't imagine living without him being alive somewhere.

She pressed a button on her phone and the screen lit up, showing the picture of her and Damon.

"Is that him?" The nurse pointed her chin to her phone.

Elena smiled."Yes." She showed the picture to the nurse and pulled the phone back, smiling. "Let me search you another one. You have to see his eyes."

The nurse laughed while she started searching in her phone for another picture. She felt like a high school girl all over again.

"This is him." Elena handed her the phone and had the pleasure to watch the nurse's mouth fall open. The picture showed a half naked Damon with damp hair, his ocean blue eyes boring into the camera.

The nurse swallowed. "That's a man you would kill for."

Elena sighed and muttered under her breath. "Tell me about it."

"Does he love you?" The nurse handed her back her phone.

Elena nodded her head. "I think he does. How do you know?"

"I knew because my husband could have had any girl he wanted but for some reason he chose me to come home to. At night he would crawl into my bed and leave all the other girls behind. But most of all, he wasn't afraid to put me in my place when it needed to be done."

Elena laughed. "Damon is the only person that tells me when I'm being a pain in the ass."

The woman laughed before her face became serious. "I think you should go for him. Dump the husband."

Elena's mouth fell open in shock. "You knew there was a difference?"

"You couldn't describe five qualities about the man you were going to marry but you could write a whole book with your speech on the man you loved. You're eyes lit up and your smile didn't disappear from your face. That, and I'm monitoring your heartbeat." The woman smiled and started to remove the plaster and needle.

Elena laughed again, feeling free for the first time in a while. "Just so you know, I dumped the husband at the wedding. I'm going home to the man I love."

"As it should." The nurse stood up and helped her out the couch. "You're free to go, your aunt will be fine."

Elena started walking towards the exit but turned around to the woman. "Do you think you will ever grow tired of him?"

The woman looked up and smiled. "No."

"Not even if you would spend forever with him?"

"No. That's why I didn't want a safe choice. Everyday is a new adventure, it's unpredictable and exciting. It keeps me on my toes." The nurse reminded her of her own words.

She turned around and stepped through the door.

"Elena." The nurse called her back.

She stepped back and faced the older woman.

"Don't try to change him. Accept him for who he is and he'll love you more than you could ever imagine. Because at the end of the day, he puts up with your bullshit too."

Elena nodded, her face serious. "Thank you."

---

"Caroline? Damon?"

"In here!" Caroline's voice came from upstairs.

She ran up the stairs, her feet moving faster than her legs could handle. At the same time she managed to get out of her dress and leave it somewhere on the railing, changing it for a tank top with a button up over it and jeans. She pushed the door open from Jeremy's old room and stared at the two bodies in the small bed.

"He's still not awake?" She moved to Damon's side and pressed her palm against his cheek.

"No. Not a kick." Caroline was stroking Cooper's face.

Elena studied them and wondered when they had become so close. She had been such a bad friend the last months, with all the drama in her life she hadn't payed attention to the life of her best friend.

She looked back at Damon's face. "Come on baby, just wake up."

"Elena, you really should get some sleep. When is the last time you slept through the night?" Caroline looked at her in concern and grabbed the blanket from the back of the bed, draping it around her body.

"Probably six years ago." She shrugged and examined Damon's body, noticing that he was very naked.

Caroline saw her furrow. "I had to make sure that there weren't any splinters left in his body. Don't worry, Coop is naked too."

"Don't worry?" She laughed."Damon is going to kill you when he finds out."

"I think he's already going to kill me for vervaining him." Caroline flinched.

"Don't worry. I'll talk to him." She looked back at Damon's face and smiled.

Cooper started stirring and Caroline moved to his side. "Coop? You okay?"

Cooper rolled over and bumped against Damon's naked body. "Really Caroline? I'm in bed with a naked vampire." He rolled his eyes and turned back on his side.

"Oh Coooop." Elena squealed. "In Richmond you couldn't stop gushing about how beautiful he was. I believe you even asked to switch places when he was naked on me."

"He better keeps his hands off me." Damon's voice cut through the squealing and shrieking from the two girls.

"Damon!" Her voice sounded relieved as her hands started caressing every inch of his beautiful face, stroking his hair backwards so she could lock her eyes with his.

"Hi there." He kissed her wrist and started to sit up straight.

She pushed him back against the pillows. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to get to you." He rolled his eyes like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Get in here." He pulled the sheets back, shuffling to the middle of the bed and making room for her.

She sighed and pulled off her shoes, throwing them in the corner of the room and dropping the blanket from her body. He held the covers up for her and she snuggled into his body. For the first time this evening really realizing he was here. He was here and he wasn't going anywhere.

Her body eased against his like it always did, the adrenaline leaving her body and the emotions taking over. His warm arms wrapped around her and her face drowned in his kisses, her tears were absorbed by his lips before they could reach her cheeks. His chest moved against her panting body, the material of her shirt rubbing between them.

"You have to many clothes on." His voice sounded so serious that she almost thought he was going to ask her to take her clothes off.

His fingers clawed on the material, ready to tear it apart. She looked at his face and saw an emotion she thought she would never see on him. His eyes shimmering with unshed tears, his lips trembling with need, his chest gasping for air, only one emotion on his face. Desperate.

"Take it off." He started fumbling with the buttons of her shirt. His hands trembling.

She grabbed his hands and held them against her heart. "Damon." She shook her head.

"Take it off." His voice sounded desperate, the shimmering in his eyes intenser with the amount of tears he was holding back. "Please." He bored his eyes into hers while a single tear escaped and rolled down his face. "Take it off."

She started unbuttoning her shirt and pressed her lips against his while he helped her take it off. She threw it on the ground and gave her fingers a home in his hair. He grabbed the hem of her tank top and pulled it up, exposing her flat stomach to the could air. They separated for a second while he pulled it over her head, she looked at him and found her way back to his lips, their tears meeting in the middle.

Because she understood why he needed her to take off her clothes, why he had been desperate to get them off. He couldn't have anything between them, not anymore, not after so many years of being separated. His skin needed to touch hers to know that it was back home again, that it would never have to leave its home again. The frozen heart in his chest needed to know that its beating heart was right on the other side of his skin, that it was beating to keep him alive, that it was beating towards the frozen heart to keep them both alive. His soul needed to know that its other half was right on the other side of his chest, that it was pushing against her chest to collide with it. Their bodies needed to know that nothing would separate them ever again, that they would never allow anyone or anything to come between them again. That every nerve and every vein in their body could be used in the other one's body because they were one. They were a whole, they were entirely , they were complete.

They were Damon and Elena, they were epic, they were undeniable. They had been taken from each other and found their way back. Who could have ever denied them? Who could have ever had the nerve to separate a unit so beautiful, so perfect, so powerful? Who had not been smart enough to see that they didn't function without each other? That their lives didn't made sense without each other? That he was the reason she had been born and that she was the reason he had kept on living? Who could have ever separated them when they knew that their existence was intertwined with one another? Who could have been ever stupid enough to think that they would never find each other? Everyone knows that every lost soul finds his way back.

She never belonged to anyone else and he had never belonged to anyone else because they belonged to each other. She had never loved anyone else, she had never found a home in someone's body, a treasure in someone's soul, a life in someone's heart. They had been two lost individuals that had found their way in their entity. They had fought, they had sacrificed, they had killed, they had hurt and they had broken but now, they had found. And they were never going to lose again.

She knew why he couldn't have anything between them, because he was her and she was him, there was nothing that was strong enough to stand between them.

"I love you." Her palms held his face, the reason of her existence, the center of her being.

"I love you too." His face leaned against hers, connecting their nerves with each other, pushing her love into him, radiating his love to her.

He rolled off her and pulled the sheets up so she would be covered from the people around them, their audience that hadn't dared to interrupt when his lips had been traveling over her whole body while her hands had been searching every muscle in his. The audience that hadn't had the courage to separate a reunion so powerful, so life changing, so beautiful and so intense.

"Damon! It's time for that reunion." Alaric entered the room, holding up a bottle of scotch and carrying two glasses.

"Hey buddy." Damon's husky voice made her body shiver, goosebumps appearing on her bare arms and chest.

"I've kept this bottle for six years." Alaric opened the scotch and poured two glasses out, handing one to Damon over her head.

Six years. She should remember something. Bottle. Scotch. Six years. Celebrate. Not coming. Tomorrow. He left. Angry. Vervain.

"You don't want to drink that." She pulled the glass away from Damon when he was about to down it.

He raised his eyebrow before understanding washed over him. "Elena. No." He started pouting. "Do you know how much this stuff costs?"

She cupped his face in her hands and pressed a kiss on his mouth. "I was really mad at you." She gave him her best puppy dog eyes.

Cooper took the glass from her and downed it in one gulp. "I don't see what's wrong with it."

"Because you aren't a vampire." Alaric pointed his glass at Elena. "She vervained every bottle she could find in Mystic Falls. There was even vervain in the liquor at the grill."

"I was very thorough." She buried her face in Damon's chest who chuckled.

"Dude, can you please stop rubbing your naked ass against mine?" Cooper turned around and looked at Damon.

"Oh no." Caroline buried her head in her hands. "He called him dude." She shook her head in her hands.

Damon loosened his grip on her body and turned his head over his shoulder. "Really?" His eyebrow arched "You bitchy witch are calling me dude?"

"Bitchy witch?" Cooper gasped. "I saved your ass today. Has it even crossed your mind to say thank you?"

"Saved my ass?" Damon raised his voice. "I got vervained! Again!" He threw his hands in the air. "Why is everyone vervaining me these days?" He pointed his gaze at Caroline.

Caroline just looked away from his stare and focused on her nails.

"I'm surprised you're even here after the dose she gave you. You should still be flat on your back." Cooper's voice sounded admiring, surprised and harsh at the same time.

"You get used to it." He shrugged, paused and looked back at Cooper. "You were there when she vervained me?" He didn't give Coop time to answer. "Now you're really death."

"Help!" Cooper's voice echoed through the room as Damon jumped on top of him and wrapped his hands around his throat.

"Really Coop?" Caroline sounded offended as she pulled on Damon's arm. "You're one of the most powerful witches out there and you can't take him down?"

Damon tightened his grip, the muscles in his arm stretching. "Yes, take me down. Make sure you don't faint this time."

"Oh.." Caroline sighed. "This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

"Vampire Barbie is quoting Casablanca, how more cliche can it get?" Damon removed his hands from Cooper's throat and rolled off him. "I need a drink." He moved to get out the bed.

"You're naked!" Caroline shrieked and pushed Damon back against the mattress.

"So is the guy next to me!" Damon yelled and threw his hands up again.

"Elena!" Caroline's voice pulled her eyes back from where they were. "Did you really just peek under the sheets?"

"I..." She stammered and started to blush when she saw Damon smirking."I wanted to see how naked they really were."

"Do you want me to show you again?" Damon rolled on top of her and did his famous eye-thing.

"Baby.." She trailed her finger down his chest. "I've seen you more naked than with your clothes on."

He chuckled. "That's because you rip them off every chance you get."

"Yeah." She kissed his nose. "But this time I'm going to do the community a favor and get your pants out of the dryer."

She pushed him off her and pulled her tank top back on. Leaving a pouting vampire behind in the bed.

"Fuck this. They're both guys and it's not like Caroline hasn't seen it before." She heard Damon growl when she walked out the room.

"I'll be right back." She called over her shoulder and walked towards the stairs.

She wasn't even halfway down the stairs when she heard three voices scream. "DAMON!"

She chuckled and shook her head. He never was the patient type.

"I'm glad to finally see you smile again, miss Elena."

She gasped and put her hand above her heart. "Elijah. You scared me."

Elijah laughed. "I apologize. I should like to speak to you in private." He bend his arm for her.

At first she hesitated but curiosity got the best of her. "Okay.." She linked her arm with Elijah's and let him lead her outside.

When they stepped down from the porch she pulled back after seeing Bonnie and Stefan waiting for them on the sidewalk.

Elijah put his arm around her waist and pulled her back. "Don't fear. They will not be able to hurt you. Little Bonnie lost her powers and little Stefan would never be brave enough to fight me on his own." He smiled and gestured for her to step forward.

"Why are they here?" She looked at Elijah but kept moving forward.

"Because I have a wedding gift for you." Elijah lead her to the place where Stefan and Bonnie were waiting but kept a safe distance between the two teams.

"The reason why I brought them with me.." Elijah started. "Is because I want to give you something. Don't judge before I've explained it but maybe you want to pass that gift on to Stefan."

She crossed her arms and looked up confused at Elijah. "I'll keep that in mind."

Elijah smiled softly and retrieved a small bottle with a lucent liquid in it from his pocket. "This.." He held the small bottle up. "Is my wedding gift to you, Elena."

Elena studied the liquid and shrugged. "Thank you, Elijah. But what is it?" She laughed.

"It's a potion. Cooper made it yesterday. It has very rare ingredients, one of which is a flower that only blossoms every five hundred years and in two hours that flower will have lost its powers and the potion will be useless. So you my dear Elena, have a decision to make." He pointed the small bottle in her direction.

"What does it do?" She arched her brow and took a closer look.

"It makes a vampire human again." Elijah watched her mouth fall open and moved on. "After drinking this potion it will be impossible to ever become a vampire again. So choose wisely."

Elena nodded. "So I have to choose between a human life with Damon, the children and the white picket fence I always wanted or spend forever with him?"

"That's right." Elijah nodded. "I brought Stefan here with me because maybe you didn't want to use it and would be kind enough to pass it on. Or maybe your lovely blond vampire friend would like to become human again."

"I don't know.." She shook her head and looked at Elijah. "What would you do?"

"It's not my choice to make, Elena."

"But if I asked you your opinion, what would you say?" Elena looked at him desperately.

"Do you want me to answer that question as a human or as a vampire?" Elijah arched his brow.

"Both."

"As a vampire I would say that it would be a great loss to our kind if Damon became human, because he's one hell of a vampire." Elijah chuckled. "As a human, I tell you that you would be a fool not to jump at this opportunity and start the family you always wanted." Elijah shook his head and laughed. "And it would be nice to know that I wouldn't have to put up with Damon for the rest of eternity, because I really can't stand the guy."

"I don't know what to say.. or the choose." Elena shook her head.

Elijah nodded. "I'll come back with this.." He held the small bottle up again. ".. in an hour and we will see what you choose."

Elena nodded her head and started walking towards the porch again when she felt someone grab her arm and pull her back.

"I knew." Bonnie turned her around and looked up at her. "When you asked me in the church if I knew that you loved him. I knew." She shook her head. "I saw the way you looked at him, how your face would light up whenever he came into the room. I catched the secret glances between the two of you. I saw how you always moved with him, he would go right, you would go right." The former witch smiled at her. "I think you never noticed but whenever Stefan and Damon were in danger you would move to Damon's side, like you were ready to throw yourself in front of him. So if you ask me if I knew, I did."

"And still you took him away from me." She pulled her arm out of Bonnie's grasp.

"Don't act like you didn't take anything from me. You took Jeremy, you took Lucy. Because he changed you. The Elena I knew would have never pushed someone in their own death." Bonnie's eyes started to tear up.

"The Elena you knew disappeared because you forced her to." She spit in Bonnie's face. "She became a dangerous, selfish, murderous creature because you were about to take away everything she loved. You forced me into changing because you couldn't let me make my own decisions."

"But I never killed anyone." Bonnie yelled and clenched her fists next to her sides.

"But you were about to." Elena yelled back in her face. "You were about to kill him. Wouldn't you have prevented Jeremy's death if you had known he was going to die?" She looked at Bonnie and shook her head. "You were about to take the one thing I tried so desperately to protect. He was the one thing I never wanted to give up, the one thing I would kill for. And out of all the options, you chose him." She wiped away the tear that escaped her eye and pointed a finger at Bonnie. "You made me kill, you made me a murderer."

"No.." Bonnie started sobbing.

"Yes." She nodded her head. "Do you know how Jeremy got killed? Because someone told him that Damon used me and abused me. Otherwise he would have given me a speech about being careful but someone had filled up his mind with this nonsense and he tried to attack Damon. He died because someone told him the wrong things. I wonder who that was."

"Oh God." Bonnie crashed down on the sidewalk, burying her head in her hands.

"Stop blaming other people and take responsibility for your own actions because you are as much a murderer as I am." She turned around and walked back to the porch.

Damon was leaning against the door frame, his chest still bare but apparently he had found his pants by himself.

"I see you finally have some clothes on." She pointed to the black jeans that was hanging on his hips.

He shrugged. "They threatened me with vervain darts. I've had enough of those for a while."

She chuckled and extended her arm. "Come here for a second."

He pushed himself off the frame and grabbed her hand, walking himself in her embrace.

Her lips found his for a moment and she melted into his body, his warm chest heating her cold arms. But she pulled away from him, remembering why she had let him come out here in the first place.

"Turn around." She grabbed his shoulders, ignoring the curious look he send her and turned him around so his back was facing her.

She placed a kiss on the back of his neck and walked around him through the door.

"What are we doing?" He laughed but kept his place on the porch.

She turned around and stood next to the couch, a few feet away from the door where she could see him standing on the porch.

"Walk through the door."

She needed to see him do it once. The memories of the closed door needed to be pushed out her mind. She had to have a memory with him walking through that door and sweeping her up in his arms.

He smiled when he understood what she was doing. The smile grew wider when he took a step forward, exaggerating the movement. He stepped over the threshold and used vampire speed to get to her. Taking her in his arms and spinning her around the room.

She was still laughing when he put her back down and slipped his arms around her back, pulling her flush against him.

"I need to tell you something." She lifted her head up from the place on his chest and locked her eyes with his.

"I know you do." He smiled and kissed her forehead.

"You heard?" She started caressing his face.

He nodded his head.

"What are we going to do?" She put her chin on his chest, pressing kisses against it while waiting for his answer.

"Like Elijah said. It's your choice." He shrugged and pulled one hand away from her back, to stroke her hair.

"But what if I make the wrong choice?" She looked up again and saw him smile at her.

"The last time I made you choose, you made the right choice." He waggled his eyebrows.

"How can you be so calm about this?" She was getting frustrated. "It's your life too. This is our life, I don't want to do this alone."

"You'll choose right." His face became serious as he cupped her face in his hands.

She recognized that look. It was his I-know-it-and-you-don't-look. "You already know what I'm going to choose, don't you?"

He chuckled. "Yep."

"How can you know when I don't even know it?" She slapped his chest with her hand.

He just shrugged again and she slapped him again, a little harder this time.

"I know you like being a vampire but on the other hand I know that you want to grow old and have kids." She growled. "Elijah is going to be here in an hour. I need to know what you want."

"I want the same things as you." He kissed her forehead again.

"But what do I want?" She looked up at him, expecting him to answer her question.

He looked at the clock on the wall and pressed her head against his chest, letting his chin rest on her crown.

"You have forty minutes left to figure that out."