One Month Later

Damon couldn't stop holding Elena. The dreams weren't coming so often, but the flashes continued. Not only when they kissed or touched, but when they walked, when they spoke, when they laughed, when they so much as moved, they something in the hollows of their eyelids. They couldn't even explain why this was happening, or even what had caused it. It wasn't so much about the dreams anymore-it was way more than that-but it was about them, what had happened in them, what had changed. No one could make sense of it. Everyone else continued to have the same dreams. No one had seen Klaus or even seen one trace of Stefan in more than a month. So, what exactly, is going on with Mystic Falls and the supernatural aspects in it?

Elena yawned and turned herself onto her side, so she was facing Damon with her eyes still closed, so deep in sleep that she didn't realize there was another reality. Damon heard her groan and lick her lips with his advanced hearing and opened his eyes to find her looking like a dark angel. How did I manage to live so long without her? Elena's eyes opened and she smiled at Damon, nervous she had morning breath. Damon smiled back then inclined his head toward the washroom, apparently worrying about his breath, too. They got up together, took turns at the sink, then went to their designated showers. Damon took his time, thinking of how happy he was now that he woke up and went to bed with Elena. Unlike with other women, he didn't expect any kisses from Elena-he wanted them.

Elena couldn't help grinning while she dressed, she couldn't stop the happiness that came over her constantly. But she also couldn't stop the fear from being laced with her happiness constantly, and she couldn't stop the feeling of needing to be closer and closer with Damon. Maybe you're just being a normal teenager? She thought to herself. But she couldn't stop herself from thinking that maybe this wasn't normal, that maybe everything included with getting involved with vampires just wasn't normal. Maybe I'm not normal. Elena didn't mind, as long as Damon was being abnormal with her, as long as Damon wouldn't be too far. She kept that thought in mind as she closed her eyes and slipped-literally and figuratively-into her dream.

Damon heard a thump and immediately ran to Elena's bathroom to find her lying on the floor, passed out, still only in her towel. He immediately rushed to her side, only to be engulfed by the same dream that had pulled Elena under.

Damon and Elena didn't feel like separate people, they felt when on moved and when the other didn't, they felt when one cried and when one smiled. It felt intensely uncomfortable yet normal. They felt that if they didn't have this connection, they'd feel naked, they'd feel empty. They'd feel like a part of them was physically not there. They were aware of the music, forever sounding like it had a life of its own, like it physically had a heart that created the strong pulse that hung in the air and formed a barely visible barrier between the couple and the rest of the crowd.

Elena couldn't distinguish her own thoughts from Damon's and she couldn't be sure whether it was because their thoughts were so alike, or whether it was because of how linked and almost compressed they felt. The fabric of her dress was riding up on her thighs because of the proximity of Damon's, and the heat they generated together, combined with the intensity of the music, was magnified in Damon's vivid blue eyes, as Elena was sure they were mirrored in her own. Elena's eyes fluttered, and she sighed unable to break herself away from Damon.

Damon couldn't understand how the lust had begun to form in Elena's eyes, because the mess of thoughts in both their heads got rid of all concentration, but he had started to notice how little space was left between them, how they were very much invading each other's space, and how they were very much close to doing something they might come to regret. But Elena's eyes were showing something so different, and the look within them made Damon want to let go and break all the rules. As their faces came together, and their lips met, a jolt of electricity passed through them, into their skulls, through theirs ribs. A flash was imprinted in the hollows of their eyelids, and all rational thought escaped them. Then Stefan tour through the crowd, ripped them apart. Elena's fist came up, Damon's arm went around her waist, pulling her back…

Elena gasped loudly, fought for air, desperately trying to force the air into her lungs. She briefly noted that Damon was next to her, trying to do the same thing. She also briefly noted that all she was wearing was a towel, but she didn't care. She turned to Damon to find him turning to her.

"What was that?" Elena swallowed then spoke.

"I don't even know. When did you get here?"

"I heard you hit the floor. When I touched your arm I passed out." Elena nodded, then slid her legs under her.

"So what do we do then? This can't go on. Now Stefan's in this."

"What a buzz kill he was." Damon said, dryly. Elena raised her eyebrows, and smiled despite herself.

"Didn't you notice in the background?"

"Notice what?"

"Jenna." Damon's brow puckered.

"What would she have to do with this?" Elena shrugged, and after that explosive dream, couldn't help noticing how perfectly smooth and sensitive the skin o her collar bone looked.

"You're asking me, who knows just as much as you do." Damon sighed, not knowing what to do.

"We're hitting dead end after dead end. Us worrying so much about this isn't helping us do anything." Elena ran her hand through her hair then got up, loosening the towel from around herself, pulling it down, smiling devilishly at Damon as…

Damon immediately opened his eyes, looked over at the sleeping Elena, thought back to last night, the night that they kissed, and sighed. He'd had dreams in his dreams, this wasn't normal. He just yawned, stretched out his arms, the laid one over Elena.

She smiled and snuggled closer to him, remembering the night and remembering the dream she'd just had, about having the dream, about exposing herself to Damon… then put it out of her mind. She could deal with it later. Right now, sleep, Damon, and some more of the two.