She woke up with a start from a nightmare. She dreamt that Katherine had killed all the people she loved right in front of her, but she couldn't do anything about it.
But, the moment her eyes opened she began to calm down as she recognized her surroundings. Directly in front of her was the opening to Damon's bathroom. The sun cascaded through the red drapes, cascading the room with a warm orange hue. She had never been in Damon's room in the morning.
Slowly, as to not wake Damon, Elena turned around to lay on her other side. She smiled at what she saw: Damon was resting peacefully with his arm tucked under the pillow. All the muscles on his face were relaxed and the sun was illuminating the subtle blonde tips of his eyelashes. He looked so calm, so centered, and so irresistible.
Elena quietly began tracing the lines on his face: his forehead, eyebrows, cheekbones, lips, chin. Her fingers were light like ghosts crawling across his skin. She was infatuated with his appearance; she had never really had a chance to explore the intricacies of his look before.
"Hmm…I've woken up to some weird feelings before; this is defiantly in the top 5." Damon's voice broke Elena's reverie and she rested the entirety of her hand on his neck.
"Isn't it weird how vampires sleep? I mean, what's the point?" Elena asked. She watched as Damon's lips curved up into a little smile.
"You're just asking that question?" Damon opened his eyes. At the sudden eye contact, Elena felt her heart jump to her throat. Somehow he had always managed to get that reaction from her.
Damon raised his eyebrows and that's when Elena realized that she had been staring at him silently for longer than she had thought.
"I've never woken up next to you before," Elena stated quickly, trying to distract from her awkward silence.
"That's a very good observation, Elena. How do you feel about that?" Damon asked. He placed his hand on her exposed torso; his fingers lightly danced over her skin.
"I think I could get used to it," Elena smiled at Damon and he smiled back. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his, pulling him into a 'good morning' kiss. She pulled away and Damon gave her his puppy-dog pouty face. Elena chuckled.
"Sorry, but I do actually have to go." Elena sat up and swung her feet over the side of the bed.
"What? Where?" Damon sat up with her.
"I still have this little thing called school, Damon," Elena said, standing up.
Damon grabbed her by the waist and pulled her back down to the bed. Elena squealed as she fell into his arms.
"I'm not letting you go," Damon whispered in her ear.
"I have to!" Elena laughed as she tried to break from his grip.
"I'm doing you a service! I refuse to let you waist your eternity behind a desk."
Just then, Elena's phone buzzed on the side table. She tried to grab it, but she couldn't reach it.
"Permission to get my phone, Mr. Salvatore?" Elena asked jokingly. Damon looked up at the ceiling indecisively.
"Granted," Damon leaned up with Elena as she grabbed her phone, his arms still clasped around her. She was still laughing as she looked at the screen to see who was calling. It was Caroline.
"Hmm, let's see what she has to say about this whole 'school thing,'" Elena showed Damon who was calling before picking up the phone.
"Hello, Caroline," Elena purred into the phone.
"Hey, Elena," Caroline's voice was considerably more stressed than Elena's.
"Are you going to school today?" Elena asked. Damon pulled her back down to the mattress and Elena gasped as she fell. Damon crawled on his elbows, perching above her like a raven. Elena bit her bottom lip through her smile.
"I have a little more pressing issues, Elena, and so do you." Caroline said. Elena rolled her eyes and mouthed 'buzzkill' to Damon about Caroline.
"Oh, yeah." Elena sighed. She looked up at Damon; he was still smiling flirtatiously at her. Elena leaned up and pecked him on the lips.
"Yeah. Like the fact that I have a depressed Stefan lazing out on my couch right now, complaining about not being able to find the TV remote." Caroline huffed.
Elena barely heard her though because she was distracting by Damon. He was kissing every inch of bare skin that he could find on her body and Elena was gasping and laughing as his mouth explored her.
"Elena!" Caroline exclaimed, catching Elena's attention.
"What?"
"Ya know I can hear all of that. You aren't being that secretive." Caroline said with her judgmental voice.
"That's the point, we don't have to be secretive anymore," Elena cheerfully announced. When Caroline didn't respond, Elena sighed, "Come on, Damon. We gotta be serious now." Damon plopped down on his back next to Elena and grunted in disappointment.
"Thank you," Caroline said. "Meet me at my house, k?"
"Um, Care, we can't do that," Elena spoke hesitantly.
"Oh, is it 'we' now?"
"Come on, you know what I mean," Elena said. She heard Caroline sigh.
"Stefan will play nicely if Damon does. Just get down here before Katherine gets ahead of us."
"Okay, fine." Elena nodded even though Caroline couldn't see her, "We'll see you soon."
Elena rang the doorbell. She impatiently fidgeted with her keys, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.
"Worried?" Damon asked her.
Elena sighed and nodded. She touched the raven dangling from her neck.
"Aren't you?" Elena asked.
"I stopped getting stressed about Stefan confrontations in the 1800s. It caused too many wrinkles." Damon said. Elena nodded and leaned into him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed the top of her head.
She heard footsteps in Caroline's hallway.
"Here we go," Elena mumbled as the door opened. In front of them stood a glum Stefan. He narrowed his eyes at the sight of Damon holding Elena and turned around. He began walking into the house.
"Come in, Caroline's in the kitchen," Stefan mumbled. Elena and Damon shared a worried look before entering the house. They walked down the hallway and into the kitchen. Caroline was gulping down a blood bag.
"Oh, hey," Caroline pried the bag from her lips, "I just was thirsty…from a work out."
"You work out?" Elena asked confusedly.
"You don't have to sound so shocked." Caroline responded. Elena shrugged.
"So, what's the deal?" Elena asked.
"Katherine's the deal," Caroline threw away the empty blood bag and Stefan solemnly leaned against the fridge with his arms crossed. He was wearing his white wife beater and a pair of blue jeans.
"She found me last night," Stefan said.
"And?" Elena asked.
"I pretended to be surprised when she told me about you and Damon," Stefan said, obviously doing his best to hold back his true emotions. Elena slowly nodded and cleared her throat.
"That's good. That gives us an advantage. Now she thinks she has the upper hand."
"I know," Stefan said. He crossed the room and stood next to Caroline. She looked up at him and raised her eyebrows. Stefan sighed, reading Caroline's expression and turned back to Elena and Damon, "Katherine has some of my blood."
Elena saw Damon tense up out of the corner of her eye. She looked at him full-on and cocked her head to the side in confusion.
"I'm not getting what the big deal is…" Elena said. Damon raised one eyebrow and crossed his arms.
"Baby brother might have just doomed both of us," Damon said.
Elena straightened her posture in sudden curiosity. She turned to Damon with worry in her eyes. He met her eyes and shrugged, indicating that there was nothing he could do about it at the moment.
"I didn't do it on purpose, Damon," Stefan snarled. Caroline noticed the aggression bubbling to the surface and glanced at Elena, as if telling her to deal with the situation.
"Are you sure about that, Stefan?" Damon gained a defensive posture.
"You think that I would give Katherine some of my blood for what? A sick revenge scheme? Do you even know me?!"
"I know how you get when you're hurt!"
"Can someone please explain to me what's happening?!" Elena interrupted. Both the Salvatores' turned their attention towards her.
"Katherine getting my blood means that Damon and I are both at risk to ultimately any spell she wants to cast," Stefan explained.
Elena's heart dropped to her stomach and she looked concernedly at Damon. Of course, she was also worried about Stefan, but it was different kind of fear—not as intimate.
"That means that she knows we're over," Elena gestured between her and Stefan, "And now she's going to find a way to pursue you, all the while destroying our happiness." Elena placed her hand on Damon's bicep. Stefan dropped his eyes to the floor.
"That seems to be the deal," Caroline placed her hand tenderly on Stefan's back to comfort him. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and his shoulders relaxed. Elena narrowed her eyes at their body language suspiciously.
"So, what do we do?" Elena asked.
"Isn't it obvious?" Damon responded, "We have to kill her."
A/N: Happy finale 2-3 (?) weekiversary. Review please!