Chapter 16

After quite a depressing chapter last time, I think we could all use a pick me up. Chapter 17 will be the wedding and Chapter 18 the end Thank you for all the support and messages and reviews!

And thank you to Western wicked witch for your suggestions, I hope I did them some justice x

Please note that I have raised the rating to 'M' for this chapter, just in case. More like a T++

The glass of champagne Matt had handed me earlier was cheering me up immensely as I forgot all about Damon and out little 'spat' and enjoyed being spun around the dance floor by Matt, Stefan, Care's dad, Jeremy and even Caroline herself.

"So where's Damon?" Jeremy asked nonchalantly as he leant against the bar opposite me. I downed the rest of my champagne swiftly before replying.

"I don't know and honestly I couldn't be bothered right now. Want to dance?" I didn't even wait for an answer as I dragged Jeremy back onto the dance floor where we were joined by Bonnie who had a suspicious twinkle in her eye and blush to her cheeks. Noticing that Jeremy was acting more jumpy now that Bonnie was here only made me more curious as I studied the two of them. Both of their faces were flushed, which I supposed wasn't surprising as we were dancing to Lady Gaga's Just Dance. (Seeing Stefan pulling out some eighties dance moves when the song started had made my night at this stage). It was then that I noticed Bonnie's left hand clutched tightly in Jeremy's right, his thumb stroking her finger soothingly. Suddenly I came to a halt. What the hell had I just seen? Surely my eyes weren't playing tricks on me.

"You're engaged?" I all but shrieked. In a swift and sudden movement that showed fantastic collaboration and teamwork on their part, I was lifted up by arms on either side of me and practically dragged out the tent.

My face was still a mask of shock when they set me down and stood opposite me, both with their arms folded across their chest. Their faces were a mix of joy, embarrassment, nervousness and excitement. We were silent for what seemed like ages before Jer dropped his arms "Yes, yes we are." He slipped his arm around Bonnie and pulled her close. She had tears in her eyes as she beamed up at him.

Seeing their faces, I couldn't help but grin too, "I am so happy for you guys!" And pulled them both in for a tight hug. I felt a pang in my stomach when I thought how easy it was for them, two humans who love each other to get married and start a family. Well, one human and one witch. But that jealousy evaporated as soon as it descended. "Well! Let me see the ring!" I grasped Bonnie's hand as she held it out to me. It was my mother's engagement ring which I had given to Jeremy years ago to give to the person he loved. The white gold ring held a rare original circular blue diamond that was framed by smaller white diamonds. The ring twinkled as it reflected the light coming from the tent. Reflecting the love, as my mother always used to say.

"I hope it's … um … okay." Stuttered Jeremy, gesturing towards the ring.

"It's fine. No … it's perfect. I'm glad you have someone as amazing as Bonnie to give it to." Bonnie's eyes had teared up and she pulled me in for another hug.

"You know, we haven't had much time to talk since you arrived."

"Well, this is my queue to leave. Catch you two later." After pecking Bonnie on the cheek, Jeremy wandered back towards the tent.

"So, what happened with you and Damon? Caroline mentioned something, but she was … um distracted when Stefan walked in." Bonnie asked, looking at me curiously.

I tried to give her a weak smile, but someone had clasped their hand around my arm and was pulling me away from Bonnie and the tent. I saw Bonnie look at me suspiciously, but she didn't seem alarmed as she turned around and followed Jer back inside. I strained my neck around to identify my kidnapper. Damon.

"Damon! What the hell do you think you are doing?" I screamed at him as he pulled me further away from the tent and the house to the dark and daunting wood that framed the expansive lawn. "Let me go! You son of a –" But I was interrupted from my rant when he suddenly whipped me around, trapping me between his body and a tall evergreen tree. I was fully prepared to face his wrath, but what shocked me was when I looked up to his face, what I saw was not anger and hatred, but exultance. Damon Salvatore was happy, joyous even, like a child on Christmas Eve. My brows furrowed in confusion. Had we not had a fight earlier that day? Had I not seen him for the rest of the evening? And why the hell was he smiling like that!

"Elena, I have something to tell you." He was practically beaming now...

"What? You can't become human for me Damon! That's ridiculous. It will mean that you'd have to give up your life!" I gaped at him, exasperated. A curious though crossed my mind as I looked at him suspiciously, "Exactly how much have you had to drink tonight?"

"For God's sake Elena! One moment you want to be normal and have a family, and the next you are telling me that you don't want me to give that to you! Would you just make up your mind, woman?" He shouted back at me.

"Don't call me 'woman', asshole."

"Wow, cursing now are we? That's a new low for you."

"Shut up." My expression of shock and annoyance then turned to one of concern. "Damon. I'm serious, you haven't thought this through. To give up vampirism means to give up being young forever, giving up eternal life, undefeatable strength and speed, you'd have to –".

Damon cut me off, "No, to give up being a vampire would mean that I would have you." His eyes bored into mine, pleading with me and I saw something in them that I had never noticed before. It was raw, uncut and pure love. Love, for me.

"This is ridiculous." I whispered, as he leant towards me, resting his forehead against mine.

"Love is ridiculous." And there it was. The universal truth that we humans have to face. "Two vampires promising to live with one another for the rest of their immortal lives and eternity. Ridiculous. A witch promising to marry a human. Ridiculous. And original vampire swooning over a washed up busboy at the Grill. Ridiculous. An undeserving and unredeemable vampire falling in love with a kind-hearted, compassionate and beautiful woman. Well, that's the most ridiculous of them all."

Tears swam in my eyes as I gazed at him. "You're wrong."

Damon's eyes clouded.

"It's not ridiculous." I whispered. "It's the sanest of them all." My hands that had been pressed up against his sculpted chest slowly trailed up to curl themselves around his neck as I pulled his face towards mine, my lips meeting his. The kiss started off slow and sweet but gradually grew more passionate as my body moulded itself against his. As he trailed kisses down my neck and along my pulse, my head fell back in ecstasy, exploding when he gently nipped at the base of my neck, before I dragged his lips up to meet mine, enveloping me in a scorching kiss.

"I love you," he whispered roughly against my temple before claiming my lips once more. My searching fingers found the hem of his black shirt and slipped underneath it. I felt him shiver against my touch as I explored his carved torso. Encouraging him, his hand moved up my waist to cup the side of my breast. Slowly brushing his finger over the now extremely sensitive nipple through the thin material of my dress. I pulled my hands away from the exploration of the vampire I loved and gently pulled his shirt up, missing the feel of his touch on my breast when he removed his hand to let me tug his shirt off. But seeing him shirtless, his hair messed only made me crave it more.

I left a scorching trail of kisses along his jaw, pausing to whisper in his ear, "Make love to me, Damon." His strong arms encircled my waist and in a dizzying moment, we were in my bedroom. He lowered me slowly onto the rose covered duvet. Taking a moment to bask in the sight before he lowered himself over me, gently brushing his lips with mine. In a bold move I flipped us over so that I was straddling him. His dark eyes deepened with lust as he looked into my brown ones. Slowly and quite steadily, I pulled my dress off over my head and unzipped his black denim jeans. Leaning forward, I trailed kisses down his neck, across his collar bone and down his stomach. When I reached his waistband, I gently tugged it down. Before I could get any further Damon had flipped us over, his lips once again dancing against mine as he hovered over me. I wanted to stay this way forever, but then he pulled away. But only to shed his jeans before he pressed himself against me again. My soft body moulded into his firm one. I could his feel his length pressing against my thigh as he continued to kiss me with irrefutable passion. His scraped his teeth across the top of my breasts before ripping my black lace bra from my chest and capturing my lips with his once again.

"Tell me you love me." He whispered huskily.

"I love you." He bit my neck gently before burying his hard member inside me, "Oh God!" I all but moaned. "God, Damon I love you." I whispered against his lips as we began to move.

"I love you too." He murmured before thrusting inside me again. "I love you so bloody much, Elena."

I woke up late the next morning, by body tangled with his, heating up slowly as the sun settled on us through the drapes that I had left open the night before. I felt Damon stir next me and turned my head to the side to meet two suburban sky blue eyes staring at me. My lips tilted in smile. I could get used to waking up like this.

"Morning." He said, leaning forward to give me a tender, slow kiss. I only pulled away to catch my breath.

"Morning." I gasped.

"God Elena!" I heard a voice shout at me from the passage. "Its almost twelve and we have the rehearsal in an hour! Would you just get your butt-" Caroline stopped her rant when she flung the door open and noticed that I had company. "Out of bed." She finished, a few tones lower. Her eyebrows arched in curiosity as she folded her arms, looking at us questioningly. "I wondered where you had disappeared to last night."

"Hey, Care. You found Elena yet? We have to go through that … woah." Matt had now barged into the room too. For modesty's sake I pulled the sheet up a little higher. Matt's face turned a bright shade of red seeing the two of us very much still in bed and very much naked.

"Okay, I have Bonnie, why are you all … Oh my God." Stefan walked in with Bonnie behind him. A smirk very similar to the one Damon always had crossed his face. "Well, look what we have here."

It felt like scene in a very bad romcom. Matt was now looking at the floor, Bonnie at the roof, Care was still arching her eyebrow quizzically and Stefan still had that damn smirk on his face. I pinch on the side of my butt woke me out of my embarrassment and I glared at Damon. "Okay, I'd hate to break up this little family reunion, but if you want to see us at the rehearsal later then I suggest you let us get changed unless you want to see us naked, which is quite a rewarding sight I will admit." Said Damon, his smirk firmly in place. I swatted him gently under the covers. "Well if you aren't leaving than I guess I will just have to," Damon had turned around and was about to stand up to bare his backside to the world when there was a large amount of commotion at the door as everyone shoved each other to the side to get out. Once the door was closed behind them, Damon lay back and pulled me on top of him, kissing me on the lips. "God, I am the luckiest vampire in the world."

"You may be that sir, but we still have to discuss this whole human thing."

"Yeah, yeah. Later … but now," He wiggled his cocky eyebrows at me, pressing his growing shaft against my leg.

"Hey!" shouted Caroline from down the passage, "no funny business. The rehearsal is in forty five minutes you two!"

"Shower." Damon mouthed to me, winking.

I grinned. He read my mind.

Haven't had much experience writing love scenes, so hope it wasn't too awfully awful.