"Where is he?!" Elena asked again, this time more demanding. She looked at the faces of all her friends, as though they could give her all the answers. They merely shrugged in response. Elena turned to Jeremy, "Can you see him?"

"No," Jeremy responded, "I saw him before the spell, but now, I have no idea where he is."

Elena heartbeat and breathing picked up.

What if something went wrong? Terribly wrong? What if we just damned Damon to an eternity in God-knows-where? Elena thought in panic.

Stefan could hear her heartbeat and breathing spike, and was quick in his attempts to calm her down.

"Elena, he'll be okay," Stefan said reassuringly, drawing Elena's attention to him.

"How do you know that, Stefan?" Elena paused, "You don't."

"I do," Stefan argued, taking a step closer to her, "Damon is a survivor. He's a fighter. He'll always fight for what he wants. You, of all people, should know that."

Stefan's words silenced Elena. She knew all too well how Damon was relentless in the pursuit of his desires. If Damon wanted something bad enough, he would either get it or die trying. Elena prayed that it wasn't the latter.

Elena remembered back to her conversation with Damon before they tried to flee Mystic Falls, merely hours before Damon died.

"What are we going to do?" She had asked him.

"Survive, like always." Elena didn't realize until now the irony of that statement. Damon seemed so confident that they would survive, but he ended up dying.

Elena's gaze switched to Bonnie.

"What went wrong?"

"I don't know. Nothing, I thought." Bonnie paused, meeting Elena's eyes with her own. Bonnie's eyes were filled with sympathy, and worst of all, defeat, "I'm so sorry, Elena."

Elena began to feel her hard exterior breaking down at the apparent lack of faith that her best friend possessed. She couldn't…no, she wouldn't believe that Damon was actually gone.

He always makes it back to me. Elena thought, but there was still a part of her that didn't believe her own mantra.

"Maybe he just came out somewhere else? Is that possible?" Elena asked. Bonnie drew her lips into a tight line at Elena's blatant state of denial.

"No," Bonnie said, single-handedly crushing Elena's theory, "The spell is set up so he would've appeared right there." Bonnie pointed in a small circle of salt that was directly in front of her.

Elena furrowed her brow in contemplation, determined to find an explanation.

"Where's his body?" Elena's voice cracked on the last word. It was hard for her to refer to Damon as merely a 'body;' he was so much more than that.

"At our house," Stefan answered, "Why?"

"What if he returned to his body?" Elena turned to Bonnie with eager eyes, seeking validation. Unfortunately, she was only met with Bonnie shaking her head 'no.'

Immediately, the hope in Elena's eyes died.

"The body he possessed on the Other Side was supposed to materialize. Damon was supposed to return here in a new, but ultimately same body. His dead body would've just disappeared." Bonnie explained.

"Well, if he's not here and he's not there, where is he?!" Elena felt anger resurfacing. She was angry because she had no answers and she had no Damon.

"Elena," Stefan took a step closer to her and Elena quickly threw up her hands to create a barrier between him and her. She stepped back in protest.

Stefan knew exactly what Elena was doing; he'd seen her do it many times before. She was focusing all her pain into one emotion—rage. He also knew what was coming next, she was about to completely break down.

"Whe—where is he, Stefan?!" Elena's voice broke as the tears began to resurface.

"Come here," Stefan said, grabbing Elena's hand and pulling her into a hug. The sudden gesture pushed Elena over the edge; hot tears began streaming down her face as she sunk to her knees, defeated. Stefan moved with her, never letting her go.

"H—he's not gone." Elena attempted to convince herself as sobs shook her body.

"Shhh," Stefan whispered, trying to calm her, but his attempts were futile. "You have to let him go, Elena. He's gone." Stefan's voice was laced with sadness at the acceptance of the loss of his brother. He didn't used to accept it, but Bonnie's logical explanations convinced Stefan of his worst nightmare, "He would want you to move on, Elena."

That sentence made Elena laugh, but her laugh was not happy; it was a hysterical laugh that fell in perfect rhythm with her sobs.

"You and I both know that's not true," Elena said, looking up at Stefan. The white of her eyes were red from tears. "He would want me to keep fighting for him until my last breath. Just like how I would want him to do the same for me. Because we're both that selfish."

Elena used to only call Damon selfish, but she had slowly come to realize that she was also selfish when it came to protecting and loving Damon.

"That may be true," Stefan responded, tenderly brushing a tear off of Elena's cheek.

Elena pulled away from his touch. She felt a little guilty about her subtle rejection of his affections, but at the same time, she felt wrong being touched by him like that, especially considering the circumstances. Stefan read her rejection and lowered his hand, finally coming to terms with the fact that she would never be his again.

"But, Damon would want you to survive." Stefan whispered.

There's that damn word again! Elena thought angrily. Survive. She hated the fact that she was even put in a position where she would have to 'survive' without Damon. She hated that her life was about surviving; she wanted it to be about thriving. Elena genuinely believed Damon was her key to a thriving life.

Elena stood up suddenly, taking a few quick strides to the window. She stared out at the landscape, letting the sunrays soak into her skin. She stood there, crying mindlessly. Crying was starting to feel as natural as breathing to Elena.

She closed her eyes, gripping the windowsill painfully hard as memories of her previous lover consumed her mind. She thought back to the beginning.

"You're the liar, Elena. There is something going on between the two of us and you know it. And you're lying to me. And you're lying to Stefan. And most of all, you're lying to yourself." Damon had said that to Elena way before she even fathomed falling in love with him. He was so right, even back then. She had spent so much time lying to herself about her feelings towards Damon and now that she didn't have him, she wished she could reverse the clock and spend that time wasted actually being with him.

"I've made a lot of choices that have gotten me here. I deserve this. I deserve to die…it's okay. 'Cause if I'd have chosen differently, I wouldn't have met you." Elena pressed her eyelids even tighter together at the pain produced by this particular memory, causing for tears to stream faster down her cheeks. Damon had admitted this to her when he was dying of Tyler's werewolf bite. She wondered if Damon would've told her the same thing yesterday when he had his heart ripped out by Klaus. He never had a chance to say any parting words to her.

Just then, Elena felt something that made her jump, drawing everyone's attention to her. Elena turned her eyes up to her hand that was clenched tightly around the windowsill.

"No, no way," Elena whispered, mouth agape.

"What is it, Elena?" Jeremy demanded, standing up to get a better view of his sister.

"I—," Elena paused, "I feel that." Elena slowly picked her hand up from the windowsill and turned it around, as though she were caressing the air. Everyone stood on standby, watching in confusion. Eventually, Elena clasped her hand, making it look like her fingers were entwined with the air's.

"What's going on?" Stefan asked.

"It's Damon," Elena responded, and she couldn't help but let out a single laugh of joy. Elena pressed her other hand forward until her palm hit what-must-have-been Damon's chest. "It's Damon, I know it is!"

"Elena, it can't be…he's—," Stefan began.

"Actually, she's right," Bonnie interrupted Stefan and stood up. "I should've picked up on this earlier." Bonnie walked over and stood behind Elena, "The link must've severed too soon. Damon must have been caught in between the Other Side and here," Bonnie explained. She directed her next words specifically to Elena, "He's needs something, or rather someone, to hold onto in this plain. Someone he has a connection with. That's you, Elena. You can bring him back."

Elena didn't need to hear it twice. Even though she couldn't see Damon, she knew him. She knew every crevice, every outline, every muscle of his body. Elena grabbed the fabric of his shirt and pulled him towards her. She felt his body suddenly braced against hers. Elena snuck her hands up his torso until she could rest them on either side of his neck.

She didn't hesitate. She was overwhelmed with eagerness. Elena stood on her tippy-toes and simultaneously pulled Damon down to her lips. She closed her eyes to let the sensation of his love fully embrace her.

The world seemed to slow as she felt his warm lips cushion hers, fitting perfectly like puzzle pieces. She could feel Damon's hands sneak around her waist and pull her demandingly closer. He was obviously also very eager. Elena really missed this. Tears were rolling down her cheeks, but the purpose behind the tears was no longer in mourning, but rather in joy and love.

Slowly, Elena broke from his lips. She rested her forehead against his, breathing heavily.

Elena was hesitant to open her eyes because she wasn't sure what she would find, but she knew that she had to. She inhaled deeply and her eyelids fluttered open.

The first thing she saw was the electric cobalt that only belonged to one person.

Elena felt her heart fly to her throat and she smiled widely. She didn't know what to do or say, she was so overwhelmed with emotions that even breathing seemed close to impossible. Eventually, she strung together one sentence:

"You came back to me."

Elena withdrew her forehead to look Damon full-on. He was just as beautiful as she remembered—raven black hair, electric blue eyes, and that flirtatious smile—God, that smile! Elena thought. She had really missed that smile.

"Always," Damon responded, brushing a tear off of her cheek the same way that Stefan did earlier, but his touch felt right against Elena's cheek.

A small smile twitched onto Elena's lips. Damon mirrored her smile.

"Damon," Stefan stepped forward and clapped Damon on the back, "It's good to see you."

"It's good to be seen, baby brother," Damon responded, clapping Stefan on the back as well.

A smile seemed to be permanently plastered on Damon's cheeks. He was happier than he'd ever been in his 172 years of living. He was returning to the life that he had always dreamt of having—the girl of his dreams was helplessly in love with him, he was on good terms with his only remaining family, and he had a foundation of support.

Damon turned back to Elena and framed her face with his hands. Elena immediately responded by resting her hands on his abs. She smiled up at him. Damon watched her silently with utmost adoration. Eventually, he leaned down and placed a tender kiss on her swollen lips. They stood, kissing with unmoving lips for a while, enjoying the sensation of each other.

Elena felt her stomach twist. She felt heat flood her skin. She felt her body shake with electricity, all due to the feeling of Damon's lips.

Damon broke from her lips and traced the outline of her body with light, tickling fingertips. Elena stood frozen, consumed with sudden lust.

Damon picked up on the way he was heating her up and leaned down until his lips were hovering directly above Elena's ear. His breath tickled her neck and his fingers danced gracefully over the bare skin of her arm, sending electric currents to her spine.

"There's one thing that I really missed while I was over there," Damon whispered, making Elena squirm with desire.

"Yeah? What's that?" Elena whispered back, her voice deceiving her. Damon chuckled in her ear. He placed his hand in Elena's back pocket teasingly.

"This," Damon dropped his lips to the curve of her neck and started sucking on her skin. Elena's mouth dropped at the sudden sensation and a smile of pleasure and want graced her lips.

Jeremy, Bonnie, and Stefan watched the scene, awkwardly shuffling on the balls of their feet.

"So, we'll just leave you to it, then," Jeremy eventually said, clearing his throat and practically running out of the room, traumatized. Stefan and Bonnie followed, almost as quickly.

Elena smiled wider as Damon placed another long kiss on her clavicle, too consumed in him to even think about her friends' exits.

And in that moment, Elena Gilbert knew that nothing in her entire existence would ever compare to being in love with Damon Salvatore.

A/N: Well, that was the final installment. I originally planned on ending it at Damon's death, but then I figured everyone suffered too much loss with the season 5 finale. If you enjoyed this story, check out my other work: "Dear Diary" "She's Got Him" and "Feeling Territorial?" Thanks for reading and please review!