A/N: Firstly, 600 reviews. Wow. Thank you everybody. I read something on a profile page once that has always stuck with me. It said it's a team effort to make a story successful; a team involving both the writer and the readers. I thank you for every review, favorite, and alert. I thank you for making this story the success that it is.

About this chapter: Oh my goodness did these characters throw me off track. This chapter is not the one I planned on writing at all. It's the most angst-riddled thing I've ever written, and I felt so jerked around by the characters it's not funny. They wanted to have their say. Thank you Lokya, and aj81writing for reading this through for me first. I also have to thank my pre-reader who stopped work on her nano, to look this over for me too. Here we go.

Chapter Seven

There's No Coming Back from Here

"I'm listening," Elena said to Stefan.

The boat rocked gently as the rest of Damon's colleagues stepped on board, and Elena supposed she should be grateful that she wasn't seasick on top of everything else she was feeling right now.

"I would like to ask you out," Stefan said to her.

Considering how heartbroken she felt, she didn't want any part of whatever game Stefan was interested in playing right now. She didn't want to be anyone's game. She just wanted to get off this island. Was there anyway she go home early?

"I don't think-"

"I can understand why you'd say no. So, I'm not going to ask you out yet. Here's what I'm proposing – spend the week with me. Get to know me. And when we're back in Mystic Falls, I'll give you a call sometime, and you can give me your answer then."

She must have still looked hesitant because he continued.

"What do you have to lose? Damon and Katherine will keep themselves busy. Do you really want to hang around those two? I can't imagine you'd enjoy yourself very much."

"No," she said to him. "I don't want to hang around those two."

"You might even find you like me," Stefan said, smiling gently.

She gave him a weak smile in return. "I'm sure you're very nice; but this thing between you and Damon…"

"I'm not going to lie. Damon's not my favorite person. He's making out with my ex-girlfriend right now. He came here with every intention of breaking us up. And to be honest I don't think he deserves you…either as his friend, or as his girlfriend."

It was amazing that even though he'd broken her heart she still wanted to defend Damon. Stefan didn't know him like she did. She'd seen the way he could be with other people, but he'd always cared for her. At least she thought he had. He'd always been there for her. He might not feel the same way, but that wasn't his fault. The heart wanted what the heart wanted.

"Damon can be a jerk, but he's not a bad person."

"I admire how loyal you are, Elena, but he brought you here, and used you, knowing full well how you feel about him."

"Actually, he only found out today," she sighed.

She didn't even know why she was telling him that, but Caroline and Bonnie weren't here, and maybe she just needed to confide in somebody.

"He didn't know?"

"He only just figured it out."

Stefan shook his head. "How could anyone be that dumb?"

She laughed, and that relieved the pressure in her chest a little bit. "I did everything I could to keep it from him.

"What did he say?" Stefan asked her, turning right around in his seat to look at her. "When he figured it out?"

"He said he's tried really hard not to see me that way."

"Damon's an idiot."

Elena didn't want to explain Damon's past to Stefan. She knew why Damon had tried not to see her that way. She knew that he was afraid of them messing up their friendship. Yes he was being selfish, but she could understand why. Of course it didn't make this any easier.

"Can I ask you something?" Stefan asked her. "Why do you do this to yourself? Why do you hang around him? Isn't that a tad masochistic?"

"It is. That's why I need to move on. That's why I am moving on. I was hoping that it would hurt less when I found someone I could move on with."

"I'm more than happy to be that guy, Elena."

The way Stefan was looking at her was more than admiring now. His gaze was so full of male appreciation she actually found herself flushing. Other men had looked at her like that too, but that had been before she'd made her resolve to get over Damon.

"He may not see you that way, but I do."

At that moment Damon walked up to them.

"I need to talk to you. Alone," Damon said to her.

It made Damon sick to see Elena blushing from whatever crap Stefan was telling her. He never thought he'd see the day Elena would fall for one of Stefan's cheesy lines. Stefan had swooped in when Elena was at her most vulnerable and was taking full advantage of it. He wanted to shake some sense into his friend, but she wasn't even looking at him. No, she was looking at Stefan.

"Yes," she said to him. "Yes, I accept your proposal."

Stefan nodded. "Come get me when you're done."

Damon sat down next to her the moment Stefan left.

"Yes you accept his proposal?" he growled. "What proposal?"

"Stefan has asked me to hang out with him for the week."

Didn't she see what Stefan was doing? "You've got to be-"

"I think it would be a good idea. Especially with you and Katherine back together."

"We're not back together," he told her. "I told her I was with you."

"You did? Was that before or after you kissed her?"

"After I pushed her off me. Or didn't you see that?"

He regretted Elena had had to see Katherine kiss him at all. He'd pushed Katherine away straight away. He had no intention of doing anything with Katherine until Elena wasn't around anymore. He'd hurt her so much already, he had no desire to see her hurt anymore.

"No. Then again I didn't feel like watching you kiss her for any extended period of time. Why did you tell her you were with me? I thought you would have been jumping at the chance to rub it in Stefan's face."

"I don't want to be with her here. I told her I didn't want to break up with you until we got home."

"Oh."

There he went again, Elena thought, trying to spare her feelings. Well, he was too late.

"I know you said you were okay with it, but I can't be with Katherine, knowing you feel the way you do."

Was she supposed to be grateful? She just felt even more pathetic.

"You mean you can't be with her here because you'll feel bad, but when we get home you fully intend to start up with her again."

"I'll see what happens when we get back to Mystic Falls," he said, shrugging.

Elena knew that meant yes.

"I want to hang out with you," he told her. "I want to spend time with you."

"But I don't want to spend time with you," she said to him.

He looked so hurt that she regretted her word choice immediately. That didn't make it any less true though, she realized. She didn't want to spend time with him right now. Now that he knew, and now that they'd had their conversation, she didn't know how to be around him and pretend she was okay. She wasn't okay, and she didn't want to have to act like she was. She'd been in love with him for such a long time, and suddenly she was so tired of making out that she wasn't. She was just exhausted from trying to keep her feelings under control around him. She needed some distance from him. She needed to heal. She'd just been lying to herself this whole time. There was no way she could move on while he was still around.

"I'm sorry," she said to him.

"But you mean it," he said to her.

"Yes."

Damon had to look away for a moment. He didn't know how to handle what she was saying. He had nothing. Everything he said was wrong. Everything he did was wrong. He was already coming dangerously close to losing her. The depression that had been flitting close to the edge was ready to close in on him. When he looked back at her she was biting her bottom lip nervously. Did he have any choice about this?

"If that's what you want," was all he could manage to get out.

"It is. And I think I might need some space when we get back to Mystic Falls."

The more she thought about it, the more confident Elena felt that this was the right thing for her; for both of them. He wanted her to get over him, so she would.

"Space," he repeated.

"Some time apart," she explained. "You said you'd do whatever you could to help me get over you. I think I need time and space."

Damon wanted to tell her no. He wondered if this was what it was supposed to feel like to be dumped. It certainly hadn't felt like this when Katherine broke up with him. Right now he felt like his heart was being ripped out of his chest. He'd never felt so much overwhelming anger and hurt at the same time. It was unbelievable, Damon thought. This was the very thing he'd hoped to avoid by staying friends. This was never meant to happen. She wasn't supposed to need time and space away from him.

"How much time?" he asked her now.

"I don't know. Maybe a while. However long it takes."

"And if I give you space, will things go back to the way they were?"

"Things will never be the way they were, Damon." She swallowed. "You found your love. Now I need to try and find a love that isn't you. And when I do, I'll need to put them first."

He felt as if his whole world was crumbling around him. He felt…betrayed. That was the word. He'd kept everyone at a distance, never allowing himself to let anyone in, except for her. He'd let her in, and now she wanted out. She wanted space from him for some undetermined amount of time. Who knew how long it would take her to decide she wanted to spend time with him again. He felt like he was being abandoned all over again. Sure she said she just wanted space, but this was just the beginning. She was going to realize she didn't need him or want him in her life. Everyone who loved him walked away from him.

"You should be happy," she said to him. "You won. You have what you came here for. Katherine's yours."

How could he be happy? This holiday, and this stunt with Katherine, had just cost him the only relationship that really mattered to him; the only person who he needed. If only she'd said no to coming with him. If only she'd been honest with him about how she felt earlier, they might not have ended up here.

"You should have told me, Elena. You should have said something."

"Why? What would it have changed?"

"We'll never know," he said bitterly. "Will we?"

"When was I supposed to tell you, Damon? Was it when you told me no woman would ever matter to you? Or was it when you told me you'd always be the one to walk away first? I didn't want to run the risk of you walking away from me."

"Well that changed didn't it? You're the one wanting space and walking away from me."

"I'm not walking away from you, Damon. You don't see me that way, and I've spent far too long hoping you might."

"How long?" he asked her. "How long have you felt this way?"

"A long time," she said to him.

"How long, Elena?" he pressed.

"Since our summer at the Cape," she told him.

He didn't believe it. He couldn't have been this blind for that long. If it was true why was she just trying to get over him now?

"So after close to ten years you decide to move on. Because of Katherine? Because you don't like her? What?"

He would never see Katherine again if it would make any difference at all; if it meant things could go back to the way they were. He wanted Katherine, he did, but he wanted Elena in his life more. It was meant to be the two of them against the world. They were supposed to be a team.

"Because you're in love with her," she told him.

"I've been with lots of women, Elena."

"But you've never been in love with any of them. Don't you see? You walked away from every woman the moment you felt something for them, and I thought you were incapable of letting yourself fall in love with someone. But you weren't."

She stopped and looked away, and when she looked back at him, her eyes were filled with tears.

"I thought that if you could ever fall in love with someone it would be me. But it wasn't me. It was her."

Damon felt like his heart was being ripped out of his chest all over again as he watched her tears spill over. He was vaguely aware of the fact that the boat was starting to move.

"You're the only person I care about, Elena. You're the only person who matters to me. I'd do anything to put us right, to make this better."

"But you can't."

Whatever relationship they'd had as friends was over, he thought. She'd told him things would never be the same between them again. The last two days he'd been frantically trying to put things between them, but he'd been too late. The damage was done. And if that wasn't bad enough, Stefan was there ready to step into his place. He'd driven her into the arms of the person he hated the most.

"So what now?" he asked her. "You spend the week with Stefan?"

"We're just going to hang out."

"You can't trust him."

"I know that."

"You'd rather spend time with someone you can't trust than with me?"

"Stefan sees me in a way you never will," she said to him, standing up. "And right now that's exactly what I need."

Damon could see Stefan over near the railing, waiting for her, and he had to stop himself from grabbing Elena and pleading with her not to walk over there. He wanted to tell her about all the thoughts he'd had about her these past two days; even at the Cape. However, he knew that she wouldn't believe him; not now that he'd brought up Stefan. He'd fought his feelings and desire for her, thinking that their friendship was the only way to hold onto her, but it hadn't made any difference. She was about to walk away from him anyway.

Damon hated every second of the hike. Katherine never left his side, and she made annoying comments about the heat, and her shoes; shoes which were not appropriate for hiking. She was going to have blisters tonight, Damon thought, which would no doubt lead to more complaining. When she wasn't complaining, she was swatting at bugs Damon couldn't even see. Each time he heard the slap of her hand against her arm or her shoulder, he found himself growing more and more agitated.

The sight of Stefan and Elena walking ahead of them only added to his agitation. He couldn't stop watching her smile gently at Stefan, and laugh politely at Stefan's stupid jokes. When Damon saw Elena letting Stefan rub sun cream on her shoulders, Damon thought he was going to lose it. He couldn't lose it though; not in front of his bosses and his colleagues.

Holding onto his temper was taking so much effort that it was a relief when they arrived back at Heaven's Isle. As soon as he stepped off the boat, he left Katherine alone with her pout, and went upstairs by himself. He hit the shower, and when he walked out of the bathroom, she still wasn't back. She was taking her time, Damon thought. Then he heard voices outside the door.

"I had a really nice time this afternoon. Thank you." he heard Elena say.

"I'll see you tonight," Stefan said to her.

He didn't hear Elena's response.

"Do you want me to come up and get you later?" Stefan asked now.

"Thank you, but that's not necessary."

"You're right. It's probably best not to under the circumstances. Are you going to be okay staying in the same room as Damon? Because-"

Damon didn't wait to hear what he was going to say. He yanked the door open, noting Elena's shocked expression. Was that because he's appeared or because of what Stefan was about to suggest. He leaned in the door way and tried to look imposing.

"Damon."

"Stefan."

"How did you enjoy the hike?" Stefan asked him.

"It was awesome," Damon said, not willing to admit to Stefan he hated every minute of it.

Stefan smirked, obviously not believing him. "I told you Katherine was high maintenance."

"Is there a reason you're still here?" Damon asked him.

"I was just leaving."

"Goodbye then," Damon said, waving him off.

"Goodbye, Elena," Stefan said.

Stefan actually started to walk away, but then he stopped and looked back at Damon. "I said it to Elena, and I'll say it to you. I'm willing to put this thing behind us if you are."

Was he serious? Stefan had told him he didn't deserve Elena, and then moved in on his friend when she was at her most vulnerable.

"Go to hell, Stefan."

Elena gasped, and then glared at him.

"I tried," Stefan said to Elena. "I look forward to the pleasure of your company later."

Elena stalked into the room when Stefan left, and Damon stalked in after her. She was mad at him, but he didn't give a shit, because he was mad at her too.

"Would it kill you to try being civil?" she demanded.

"Yes it would kill me. It's Stefan. A fact you seem intent on ignoring in your sudden rush to get over me."

"You want me to get over you, so quit acting like a jerk."

"I don't want you getting over me with, Stefan."

"Too bad. Stefan's nice. I like him."

"I thought you were just hanging out."

"We are. But he's going to ask me out when we get back to Mystic Falls."

"Don't tell me you're actually considering it."

"Fine then, I won't tell you."

"You have no idea what he's up to."

"I know it's impossible for you to believe Stefan may actually be interested in me, but if I choose to date him you should support me."

"Support you? He hates me. I hate him."

"And I hate Katherine. She's horrible to me. She always has been. A fact you seem intent on ignoring!"

"So you're doing this to punish me?"

"Yes, Damon; everything I do is because of you," she snapped. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Damon didn't know what was wrong with him. It was like he could see the self-destruct button flashing and couldn't resist pressing it.

"Are you trying to push me away?" she asked him.

"What's wrong with me, Elena, is that you waited ten years to get over me, and then you tell me you need space and start talking about dating Stefan."

"God, Damon how can you be so selfish? I came here to help you get Katherine back when I wanted you for myself. All I've ever wanted is for you to be happy. How can you not want the same for me? Isn't that what friendship is about?"

"Don't talk to me about friendship, Elena. Friends don't need time and space away from one another. You ruined this friendship when you fell in love with me."

He watched the color drain out of her face, and knew he'd gone too far now. He hadn't meant to say that. He didn't mean it.

"Is that what you believe?" she whispered. "You think I ruined our friendship?"

"No. I'm sorry. I don't think that."

"I don't believe you. I think you do believe that."

"I'm sorry I fell in love with you," she said to him. "Believe me, I never wanted to. I'm well aware of the fact that the only thing you ever wanted from me was friendship, but you didn't have to go and throw it in my face."

"I never meant to. I didn't mean to."

"For the record, Damon, it wasn't me who ruined us. You ruined us when you chose to see my love for you as a problem. Ten years I've been in love with you, and when you found out, the only thing you cared about was how that would interfere with our friendship. You know I've seen a side to you here that I've never seen before. You've been selfish and hurtful and I don't deserve that. Forget time and space, Damon. This friendship is over. When we get back to Mystic Falls, I don't want anything to do with you."

She walked into the bathroom, and left him standing there. His biggest fear had been losing Elena, and now his fear was his reality. It seemed he no longer had to sit around and wait for her to realize he wasn't worth sticking around for. She was right; he was selfish. He knew that he'd been selfish. He had been so worried about how losing her would affect him, that he hadn't even realized how he was affecting her. He'd hurt her, when all she'd done was love him. Stefan was right. He didn't deserve her friendship. He didn't deserve her. It had only taken them both thirteen years to realize that. Now that they had, however, he wasn't quite sure how to cope.

He made his way down to the beach for the cook-out. There was no point waiting for Elena. She probably wouldn't speak to him for the rest of the week. Hell, maybe she'd never speak to him again. He felt dazed, unsure, and unprepared for this feeling of being completely alone in the world. There was no-one who gave a damn about him anymore. He'd pushed away the only person who cared about him.

Elena let the tears fall while she was in the shower. Thirteen years of friendship over. She couldn't even imagine her life without him; but she would have to. She'd held onto their friendship through ten years of being hopelessly in love with him, but now it felt like those years were a waste. Ten years of being in love with a man who could think so little of her love was so stupid. She'd never been more determined to get over him. She refused to spend another minute pining after him. She exited the shower, put on one of her new outfits, did her hair and make-up, and walked out the door.

The cook-out was in full swing when Damon noticed Elena make her entrance. He was nursing a beer, and sitting next to Katherine, not by choice, when Elena walked onto the beach. She looked incredible in a tight pink t-shirt, and a sarong style skirt with a slit that went the entire way up. Every time she moved he caught sight of her shapely legs. She looked like she belonged here; on Heaven.

It wasn't an outfit he'd seen before, and he thought they must have been some of the clothes she'd bought during her make-over. He cursed her make-over again, before remembering she was dressing this way because her mystery man hadn't seen her; correction, because he hadn't seen her the way she wanted him to. Now she was wearing the clothes she'd bought to get over him; and she was wearing them for Stefan. The saddest part was he couldn't even tell her how beautiful she looked tonight. She wouldn't want to hear anything he had to say right now.

"Damon can't stop staring at you," Stefan told Elena as they ate their dinner.

It was dark now, but there was plenty of light coming from the bonfire. Elena didn't look over to where she knew Damon was sitting with Katherine. She could feel him watching her, and she was barely resisting the urge to look back at him.

"He's going to want you now," Stefan said to her.

"You're crazy," she told him. "He has Katherine now."

"Exactly. And I have you."

He didn't have her, Elena thought, but she understood what he was saying.

"You think Damon is suddenly going to become interested in me because I'm spending time with you?"

That was like something Damon would say about Stefan.

"Absolutely."

"He's never shown any interest in me that way. He only sees me as a friend and right now he doesn't even see me that way. I told him in no uncertain terms that we're no longer friends."

Stefan snorted. "That will only make it worse. Damon is just like Katherine. He wants what he can't have. And right now he can't have you."

She didn't want to talk about Damon with Stefan. They were meant to be hanging out. She was supposed to be getting to know him, but he seemed more intent on focusing on her and Damon which made her wonder just how genuine Stefan was. Was he capable of not playing the game?

"Well that's too bad for him," she told him. "I'm not interested in him anymore. And I'm not interested in talking about him either."

"Good for you."

"Thank you."

"I really do like you, Elena."

She stopped eating and looked at him.

"You have a bit of…"

Stefan wiped the sauce off her lip, and the next thing she knew he was leaning in to kiss her. She pulled away before he made contact.

"Too fast?" he asked.

"I thought this week was just about us hanging out."

"You're right. I apologize."

She heard him say something about how beautiful she looked and being carried away in the moment, but she couldn't help questioning whether he was even more about the game than Damon was. Trying to kiss her when he knew Damon was watching seemed more like him wanting to piss Damon off than anything else. She was probably never going to be able to trust his motivations, so why was she spending time with him? Because the alternative at this point was that much worse, she told herself.

"Are you ever going to stop watching her?" Katherine asked Damon.

Damon knew he hadn't taken his eyes off Elena since she walked onto the beach.

"Probably not," he said to her.

"Why do you care? Stefan told me you only brought Elena here to make me jealous."

"He did, did he?"

"So you can stop pretending to care," Katherine told him. "I broke up with you because I thought you would choose Elena over me, but seeing you use her so shamelessly made me reconsider my decision to end our relationship."

"Let me get this straight," he said to her, "you want to go out with me again because I treated my best friend like crap?"

"Elena seemed to mean so much to you that I thought there wasn't room in your life for another woman. Now I see I was wrong."

Elena had said to him that Katherine treated her horribly, and she'd been right. He'd never worried before, because Elena always seemed like she could handle herself around Katherine, but now he realized it was just one more way he'd been a bad friend. He stood up, not knowing where he was going; just knowing he had to get away from her.

"You weren't wrong, Katherine. If I ever had to choose between you and Elena, it would be Elena every single time."

"You have a funny way of showing it," she called after him, when he turned away from her.

He started walking down the beach. He walked, and walked, until he reached the rock formation jutting out onto the sand that he and Elena had raced to earlier that day. It was still warm. A light breeze rustled through the leaves of the trees behind him. He could smell the perfume of the exotic plants, and he could hear the gentle lullaby of the water lapping at the shore. It would have been perfect; except for the fact that he was completely and utterly alone. He sat down on the sand and wondered how it could be possible that he missed her like crazy already.

Elena was listening to Stefan talk about one of the accounts he was working on when Elijah interrupted them.

"Elena, there's a storm coming, and I noticed Damon took off down the beach. I'm a bit concerned he won't be back before the worst of it."

She didn't want to speak to Damon, or see him right now, yet she found herself telling Elijah she would look for him. No matter how much she hated him right now, she didn't want him to be stuck in the middle of a storm.

"Do you want me to help you look for him?" Stefan asked her.

"No, that's okay."

Aside from the fact that she didn't trust Damon not to do anything stupid when Stefan was around, she actually found the idea of a walk by herself appealing.

Damon looked out at the sea and thought about the last time he'd felt this lonely. It had been right before Elena entered his life. He didn't want to be alone. He didn't want to feel like this; but he deserved to. He had let his fear of losing her dictate his actions, and that had cost him the most important person in his life. He didn't want to go home without her friendship. She'd been in love with him for ten years, and she was right, the only thought he'd given her feelings was terror that it would change everything between them.

How different would today have turned out if instead of being afraid of losing her, he'd had the courage to be open to the idea of loving her? Of course there was the chance it would end; it would fail, but he'd never even contemplated the thought that loving her could be something wonderful too. If he'd given her feelings the consideration they deserved he wouldn't be sitting here alone. He would still have his best friend. He would have her by his side. Maybe they'd be great together. Didn't they say friends make the best lovers? Their kiss last night proved there was something between them.

Before he could think better of it, he removed his shoes and walked into the water. This was where it had all gone wrong, he thought. When she'd leaned in for that kiss, he should have kissed her. God, he wished he could have that moment back. He would do anything to start today over. He wanted a second chance. He knew he didn't deserve one, but he wanted one anyway. He found himself looking up at the sky and wishing he had a chance to see and do everything differently today; a chance to make things right with Elena.

Then, as if she had heard his wish, she appeared on the beach and started yelling at him.

"Damon, what are you doing? There's a storm coming!"

A storm coming? The water was so calm.

"You have to come in!" she yelled at him.

He couldn't go in now. The universe, for whatever reason, was giving him a second chance and he wasn't going to waste it.

"No, Elena! You have to come here!"

Go in there, was he insane? Elena wasn't going into that water. The air had suddenly grown chilly, and she found herself wrapping her arms around her in an attempt to keep warm.

"You're going to drown in there!" she called out to him.

Elena couldn't make out what he was saying; something about not wasting second chances. She couldn't hear him because of the wind that had come out of nowhere. There was definitely a storm coming. She didn't want to be caught in the rain. However, Damon was making no sign to head in. He was standing there, looking as if he was waiting for her. Wasn't it bad enough he'd ruined everything today, without him trying to get them killed too? She had no idea what storms were like on Heaven's Isle, but she wasn't keen on experiencing her first tropical storm so far from the house.

"Damon, would you please come out? I want to go back."

He said something, but she couldn't hear him. Why was he being so difficult? He still wasn't moving at all. She should go, and leave him standing there, but she couldn't. She would never forgive herself if something happened to him. A clap of thunder frightened her into taking action. She walked a little way in, hiking up her skirt. She was wearing a bikini underneath, but she didn't want to take off her skirt in case it blew away.

The water was a surprisingly pleasant temperature, and she moved further into the water trying to stay warm, until she was waist deep. As soon as she started walking towards him, he began moving towards her, until they were facing each other. He reached out and put his hands on her upper arms so they wouldn't be moved apart by water that was suddenly choppy.

"What are you doing, Damon?"

"Do you believe in second chances, Elena? This morning, we were right here. I should have kissed you."

"Damon-"

"I was so afraid, Elena. I was too afraid, even though I wanted to do it. But I'm not afraid anymore."

Realizing exactly what he was going to do, she put her hand up to stop him. "No."

"You have to give me a second chance. I made a mistake. Please Elena; let me try this moment again."

As if her heart hadn't been through the wringer enough already. She didn't need this. "You don't get this moment back, Damon. You're too late."

"I don't believe it," he said to her.

She didn't want this, she told herself, as he dipped his head and pressed his lips against hers. It was too late for them to turn the clock back. He had hurt her so badly. She wanted to get over him. She refused to give in. She refused to kiss him back.

He pulled away from her. "Just let me have this moment again. Please."

She was shaking her head. "We can't come back from this, Damon."

"We can," he said to her. "We have to. I want this. I want us."

"You wanted to push me away. And you succeeded."

Damon knew this was his only chance. He had to lay it all on the line.

"I know. I hurt you, and you have no idea how sorry I am for that. I have spent the last thirteen years afraid that you would eventually realize that I'm not worth your time."

"Damon-"

"I know I was selfish. I know I've been a bad friend. But I can change. I care about you, Elena, more than anything else in this world, and even though I don't deserve it, I want another chance to be your friend; to be more than your friend."

Elena didn't have a chance to respond before a wave crashed into them from the side, knocking both of them into the water. When they surfaced, she was clinging to him just like she had been earlier that day. His gaze locked with hers, and then he was lowering his head and kissing her again. This time his lips were more persistent on hers, and before she could think better of it, she was kissing him back.

Damon let out a soft groan as she started moving her lips against his. She clung onto him as the water bounced them back and forth. They needed to get out of the water. They needed to go back, before the storm came, but she was too caught up in kissing him. It was the first time in ten years she didn't actually have to hide how she felt about him. It was…freeing. After years of suppressing her desires she could actually explore them.

It wasn't slow and tender like last night; it was fast and passionate and she felt feverish with longing as he kissed her again, and again. He felt it too, she realized; this all encompassing heat. One of his hands slid under her top, creating its own trail of fire. She was aware of his arousal nudging her belly as his hand cupped her breast. His thumb slipped inside the material of her bikini top to skim over her nipple, sending yet another wave of heat straight to her tummy. She could feel the tension building inside her. Without thinking she started stroking him through his shorts. His muffled sound of approval filled her with dizzying excitement, and satisfaction. He wanted her. She could scarcely believe it.

For thirteen years he'd never shown any interest in her like this. Even this morning he'd turned her away instead of kissing her, and now he was burning her alive with his passion. Things had changed so fast. Just hours ago, he'd been chasing Katherine. Katherine. Had he fallen out of love with her already? Elena knew better than anybody that you couldn't just fall out of love with someone that quickly. So what was going on here? His desire for her was too new. She broke away from him as soon as she realized exactly what was going on.

Damon couldn't work out what happened. He was still almost bursting out of his skin with need for her; for what they'd started. Kissing her was unbelievable. He wanted more. He needed more. But she looked like she was about to cry.

"None of this is real for you," she said to him. "You don't really desire me at all. You only want me because Stefan wants me."

Then the heavens opened up, and it began to pour.

A/N: One of my pre-reader's comments was this: "I hope they get their shit together ASAP". Well, they will, and they are. It's all up from here peoples. Promise. For some reason they just had to hit this bottom first. Thanks for reading, and please review.