If I lay here

If I just lay here

Would you lie with me

And just forget the world?

The sun of the cold winter morning broke through the windows. Elena stirred in the bed, finding the warm body still next to her. She smiled and snuggled closer to him. Damon fluttered his eyes open and as she looked into them, her chocolate doe eyes melted in front of his cerulean blue ones.

"Good morning," she mumbled and stretched her arms before leaning on him and brushed her lips against his.

"Morning." Damon responded to the kiss and shuffled on his back, pulling her on top of him. His hands found their way to her tousled hair, while his lips burned against hers. Damon tried to bring himself up but failed miserably, leaning his back on the pillows again.

"Damon, it's pretty late. We should-" Stefan cracked the door open but stopped when he saw what was going on; Elena was naked on top of Damon, who was also naked. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt." He said and closed the door immediately.

Damon started to laugh out loud and Elena slapped his arm. Her eyes had bugged out when she heard the door opening. What would happen now? He was going to tell Caroline and she would freak out and then pick a fight with Damon, who would be angry that Elena was afraid of what her family and friends would think of this, which will lead to yet another fight between them. No, she didn't want that. So it was better for Caroline to see out with her own eyes what was happening before Stefan told her.

"What are you brooding about?" Damon asked as he pushed a stray hair behind her ear, his hand softly lingering on her face as he did so. She welcomed his touch and leaned into his touch, allowing him to kiss her bare neck.

"Nothing. Do you think we should keep this a secret?" Elena wondered and his eyes finally settled on hers after the question had been spoken.

"No. Do you?"

She shook her head and smiled. Of course he wouldn't want it to be a secret. He was probably itching to tell everyone that he got his wish; he finally slept with her. Elena wondered what would happen next. Would he still be interested in her or was that it? She didn't want to think of the possibility of him leaving her alone, but yet there was a question mark, buried deep in her head. She pushed those thoughts out of her mind. She didn't want to think about it, at least not while they were still here. They would enjoy their time in Mystic Falls and when they got back to their lives in New York, everything could be debated.

"Speaking of secrets..." He brought her attention towards him again as he said something about secrets. Her head snapped up and she rolled off him, but didn't go away. Her head was rested against his bare chest as his arm was loosely draped over her shoulder, his fingers magically brushing over her arm. "You didn't tell your aunt how we really met."

"I haven't told Caroline either." She nodded her head, approving of what he was saying. "I don't want them to know, at least not now. I wanted this to be our secret. Does it bother you?"

"Why would it bother me? But you should know that Stefan knows. We talk about everything, 'Lena." Damon confessed. She was happy to know that at least he had a good relationship with his brother, otherwise he would be left with no one to care about him; no one, except her.

"Oh." The thought of Stefan telling Caroline made her frown, knowing better than everyone else how her blonde friend would react to the late news.

"Don't worry. If he hasn't told her by now, he won't tell her now ever. Our secret is safe." Damon said and she smiled widely at his use of the word our. Her inner self was radiating with joy because for the first time, they had a thing that was only theirs. That was something that made her extremely happy, because it could mean the start of a new era in her love life. Oh god, what was happening to her? She couldn't possibly feel something more than affection for him. Falling in love with Damon Salvatore would be a tragedy, because his heart was broken and he was incapable of loving another woman. No, she will never fall in love with him.

"We should go downstairs. I bet Caroline's flipping on her ass because she's up before us. She hates when someone sleeps more than her." Elena giggled like a little girl and jumped off the bed. She felt her skin glowing, but above that, she felt it stinging and burning. Then, she turned to watch Damon, who was completely preoccupied with staring at her, his blue eyes burning with desire as she walked around naked in front of him. A growl escaped his mouth and she smirked devilishly as she found herself liking the effect she could have on him. Shit! She just realized that all of her clothes were in her bag, downstairs and she didn't even have a pair of clean panties. What was she going to do? She would have to wear her PJ's from last night.

"I would much prefer to stay here." Damon groaned as his eyes followed her every move. Elena smiled and shook her head, thinking about the possibilities. She could stay here and have a nice time with Damon, or she could go and have breakfast, which was a boring thing to do. Weighing her options, she decided that the first one was perfect but she couldn't just bail on Christmas breakfast.

Elena headed towards the drawers of the closet and she pulled the first one open, to be welcomed by a dozen of pairs of Calvin Klein boxers. She smirked at the sight of them and pulled out a black pair of them.

"You said you don't use just Calvin Kleins," she narrowed her eyes as she slipped in his boxers, carefully adjusting the waist band to fit her. "Sorry, I don't have any panties here." She smirked when he saw his hawk eyes turning from light blue to dark blue with lust. She walked over to the edge of the bed and with her index finger, she traced a path down his chest. Damon narrowed his eyes, before speaking.

"I think I thought that this might happen." He rapidly grabbed her arm and pulled her on the bed, on top of him. Her bare chest was tightly pressed against his bare one and his lips devoured hers, without even leaving her with the chance to say something in return. Elena welcomed his kiss and dipped her tongue into his mouth, making him moan in response. His fingers traveled down her body and stopped at the waist band of his boxers briefs. He tugged on them softly, only to get a purr in response from Elena.

"You're killing me with those." He said as they broke apart to catch their breaths.

"Am I now?" Elena asked playfully as he buried his head into the crook of her neck and started to place butterfly kisses on it, traveling lower and lower, until she stopped him. "We're going to get our asses kicked. Let's go."

Elena got up and finished dressing, even if it pained her to do so. Now it was her turn to watch carefully as Damon got himself a pair of boxers from the drawer and pulled them on. Clearly, they suited him better than her. He lazily picked a pair of sweat pants and a black t-shirt to complete his morning outfit. Damon, in sweat pants! They were something she didn't know he was fond of. She only saw him in jeans and suit pants...and without them. She stared at him and she thought that he actually looked smoking hot in those baggy grey sweat pants. She might even get accustomed to see him like that more often.

"It's not polite to stare." Damon mumbled, slightly annoyed and she guessed that it was because they had to go downstairs instead of spending the whole day in bed.

"It's good for my eyes," Elena giggled enthusiastically and in a second, he had her in his arms, his hands resting on her lower back as he softly kissed her.

"I like to see you like this."

"Like this, how?" She asked and he rolled his eyes at her lack of attention.

"Happy. Now let's go, before I change my mind." Damon said and grabbed her hand, pulling her out of her room. She laughed out loud as he chased her down the long hallway, trying to pin her against a wall and make out, but he failed because she knew all the corners of the house even with her eyes shut. They landed at the big kitchen table with a trail of laughter behind them, making the four people already at that table stare at them as they awkwardly looked at one another. Elena wondered if they were staring at her fresh sex hair that was hastily pulled up into a messy bun or at the fact that she was wearing a pair of short shorts and a top, those being the only clothes that she had in her old room. But not all the eyes were as questioning and as revolting as a pair of blue-green ones, flashing their light against her face; Caroline.

"Good morning." Elena shyly mumbled and sat in her chair. Damon sat on the only free chair, that happened to be right next to Elena's. They didn't accidentally put it there, did they?

"Elena! What are you doing dressed up like this?" Caroline pointed to Elena's pants with disgust. She opened her mouth to say something but closed it when she realized she didn't have a proper excuse to use.

"Uhm, well,...," she struggled to find something but was saved by Damon.

"Elena and I shared the room. You realize I couldn't let her sleep on that couch, right?"

"That means you've had some fun there. You know, horror stories, jokes..." Stefan added and that resulted in him receiving a dagger look from his brother.

"Debatable." Damon said, annoyed by Stefan's interference in the matter. If he made another snarky comment like that one, Caroline and everyone else would realize that she and Damon slept together. Anyway, they were going to find out pretty soon.

"What's on the schedule today?" Jeremy asked as he dipped his head into his plate, lazily chewing some cheese.

"Skiing!" Caroline clapped her hands enthusiastically and Stefan put a hand on hers, squeezing it lightly, in the attempt to settle her down.

"Oh, great..." Damon rolled his eyes annoyed and Elena took advantage of their chairs being practically glued to each other to put her hand on his leg, giving it a small squeeze. She could feel his eyes on her without even turning to look at him and she knew that he understood what she said; no bickering on Christmas day.

"It is, you'll see." Caroline babbled about the sport. Elena was probably going to make a fool of herself because she hadn't been skiing in many years and everybody was going to laugh at her. But as long as they were together and happy, she would do anything. It seemed like the breakfast would go pretty smooth because no one said anything else about Elena sleeping with Damon, but it was only a matter of time until a certain someone would open their mouth and comment about it. Elena wasn't mad about it; actually, she was pretty open to the idea of letting the others know that she was having sex with Damon.

A few hours later they had their equipment on and they were all struggling to get up the slope; everyone was trying to be the first on the top, but of course, with all the enthusiasm, Caroline had been the first one there, cheering and applauding at the others for fighting so hard to reach their destination.

"Yay! Come on, you guys, you're almost here!" She cheered them up and they all looked at her and frowned and Elena inwardly smiled and looked up at Caroline who for a second looked like she wanted the ground to swallow her, but the next minute she had a bigger grin than the one from earlier. This girl was so moody that Elena didn't know if she was taking something for it or it was just natural.

Damon was holding her hand as she struggled to hold the ski sticks and climb the slope at the same time. There was a time when she would do this almost every weekend and she was so good at it, but those times were long gone and now she was moving just like an old lady with broken bones inside her body. When they finally arrived at the top, she wanted to sit her ass down in the cold snow and maybe sleep there for a while, but she knew her blonde friend would kick her ass so she chose to break her neck in her attempt to ski instead of doing what she really wanted to do.

With all of them at the top, Caroline made a step forward and silenced them all. She was probably going to invent another one of her games that no one would like but they all had to play because she could be such a pain in the ass when she wanted something and she didn't get it. So, with a smile, she started to talk and explain to them what they had to do.

"We're going to leave together. The first who gets down-safe-wins. No touching the others or playing tricks to slow them down. Ready?" She asked as she walked behind to take her previous place, next to Jeremy and Stefan.

Unbelievably Jenna was the first one down. They all looked at her with disbelief, like something fishy had happened on the slopes, when it was absolutely nothing. She was simply quicker and that got her the prize; she could pick what were they going to eat that night and which movie they watched. For some of them, like Caroline and probably Damon, if it were about the movie, it was a big deal.

"Again, again, again." Caroline yelled as she dragged Stefan at the top. They found it to be actually fun, so they did it over and over again for a few times. Damon grabbed Elena's hand and helped her to get to the top again, but this time they didn't untangled their hands; they held tight to each other. Jeremy came from behind and gave his sister a little push, who was already on the edge and without any warning, she began to rapidly slip on the snow, followed by Damon, whom, in the matter of a few second, was in front of her, making sure to still hold her hand.

Elena's foot slipped hastily from the path she was supposed to follow and she let out a scream as she fell right on top of Damon. He caught her right in time before she would roll down on the snow and end up hugging a tree. He started to laugh as she was still yelling like a little girl, not even noticing that he was holding her in his arms, his hands tightly hugging her waist. She opened her eyes and gazed into his bright blue ones, that were full of joy at the sight of her being so carefree.

"Stop laughing, it's not funny." She pouted and he brought his lips to hers to make her forgive him. She pushed her pelvis into his and she could suddenly feel his lips stronger on hers. The way they perfectly molded together still amazed her; even after all these kisses. She was fully aware of the fact that everyone was watching them, but she didn't care at all. She wanted them to see that she finally had someone to care about her; and then she remembered that Damon wasn't her boyfriend. He was just her good friend and sex buddy. But for now, that was more than enough. She cringed when a specific person cleared her throat behind her and made her slowly turn to look at her, knowing what was coming next.

"What is going on here?" The blonde asked, tapping her foot as she looked down at the two caught in flagrant. Elena noticed that she wasn't even holding her sticks anymore, which meant that they were going home soon. Elena knitted her eyebrows together when Damon didn't magically snap at Caroline. She looked right at him and noticed that he was waiting for her to give her friend the explanation.

"We were kissing." Elena shrugged and for a second she hoped that was going to be good enough to be left alone but then she remembered that she was talking to Caroline, who needed to know the place of every single comma in a story, otherwise it wouldn't be good enough for her.

"Yeah, I could see that. I'm not blind, 'Lena."

"Good, then you know what's going on." Damon interfered and Elena was grateful that he did so, because she was going to snap at her and that wouldn't be good at all.

"Jesus, Elena, I cannot believe you. It's like you don't even listen to what I say to you." Caroline complained and Elena knew that she was talking about when the blonde girl told her to not sleep with Damon, to not let him get to her, into her panties, or worse-into her heart. It seemed like he had gotten the first two things, but he was most certainly not touching the third. She wasn't going to fall for him. They would always be good friends. Good friends that had sex. It wasn't such a big deal.

She watched as her best friend turned away from them and went to find her boyfriend as they sat there, limbs attached and faces inches apart, heavily breathing with lust written all over them.

"What did she mean?" Damon asked after Caroline left. Elena mentally slapped herself. This was not going to turn into a good conversation. Not at all.

"Caroline told me to stay away from you because you were only trying to get in my pants. Clearly, she was right." Elena said, shrugging her shoulders, while trying to stand up. Damon stopped her by grabbing her arm and pulling her down again for a moment.

"Do you regret last night?"

"No."

"Good." He smiled and let her go, so she could stand up. After doing so, she extended her hand to him and helped him get to his feet as well. They collected their sticks and followed the rest of the gang to the rental shop, to give back their equipment.

"We're finally home! I thought we weren't going to make it back here." Jenna exclaimed as she threw herself on the couch, followed by Jeremy, Caroline and Stefan on the big couch and Damon and Elena on the smaller one. After a few moments of staying there, resting, Jeremy decided to go upstairs and finish some papers, Jenna went to look for a movie to watch, while Stefan and Caroline were talking about their wedding.

"Let's go upstairs." Damon suggested as he messaged her scalp. They were loosely resting on the couch and she was propped against him, her head resting on his abdomen.

"No, we can't bail now." She glared at him and he faked a pout, but she knew that he didn't actually mean it. Elena smiled and brought her lips to his, pecking at them softly, but when he cupped her face and deepened their kiss she didn't say anything, but turned her whole body towards him and she modeled her body after his, allowing their lips to violently fight for dominance as they turned this one simple, brushed kiss into a full on make out session. They didn't realize that the engaged couple was staring at them as they worked their lip magic, right there, on the couch, next to the fireplace. Elena allowed herself to get lost in his kisses and she only broke apart when she felt the need to breathe. That moment, her brother showed up with her aunt.

"You said you weren't dating." Jeremy said, almost confused by the image in front of him.

"We're not." Elena shrugged, hoping he would understand what it was that they were doing without having to explain it to him. At the end of the day, this wasn't something a big sister should explain to her little brother.

"My sister is slutting it up. Hell, who would've thought?" Jeremy chuckled and sat down next to them, pushing Elena's legs down from the couch to make some more space for himself. Damon let out a laugh and Elena slapped him playfully, reducing him to silence.

"What?" He asked, as if he didn't know what he did.

"Look, Salvatore, if I'm slutting it up, then you're way off the rails. You don't get a say in this one." Elena warned him by jerking her finger in front of his eyes. He rolled his eyes and put his arm around her shoulder, pressing a soft kiss to her cheek. In that moment, she forgot about everything and felt like they were the only people in the room, when actually they were being watched by four sets of eyes. Elena couldn't help but shuffle in his arms and press a deep, passionate kiss on his lips.

"Elena, do you happen to know where the karaoke set is?" Caroline asked, a big smile appearing on her face as a new idea probably rose in her head.

"Uhm, yes, it's in my room. Why?" The brunette asked, a frown playing on her face as she prayed that the blonde wouldn't say she wanted to do karaoke.

"Because we will sing karaoke tonight." Caroline rose to her feet and cleaned up the table in front of her, making some space for the stereo and the microphones that soon would be put on there.

"Blondie, even you could think of a better idea. Just scroll through your brain and find another activity. Maybe one that includes keeping your mouth shut for as much time as possible, or if not, one that has something to do with a bed." Damon suggested and Caroline threw him a look that told him to not mind her business.

"Oh, just shut up Salvawhore and go find someone stupid enough to stab with your D." Caroline smirked dangerously and Elena's eyes snapped to her and they burned with rage at the sound of her friend's words. She couldn't believe she had just said that.

"Caroline!" Elena shouted, enraged that her friend didn't think about her words before speaking. She knew quite well that Elena had almost slept with Damon several times and yet she was speaking with such condescension now. Of course, she probably didn't know what happened between them last night, but that didn't give her the right to talk like this nor judge anyone, when she was a person who had done much worse in her life. "Stop it, right now!" Elena added and she separated herself from Damon, his mouth was still opened wide in shock. He clearly didn't expect to hear this from Caroline.

"I must say, I'm impressed. I didn't think you would say something like this after you slept with my brother the same day you met him." Damon deadpanned and Elena literally wanted to high five with him because this last words seemed to make Caroline shut up and cuddle deeper into Stefan's arms.

"Okay, you two. Stop being childish and let's do something more fun. Like singing karaoke." Stefan interfered and Damon rolled his eyes at him, probably wondering what part of not singing karaoke he didn't understand. However, at the same time, Elena got up from the comfortable spot she had occupied.

"Fine." She rolled her eyes, annoyed, but tried to look happier so Caroline didn't throw tomatoes at her. "I'll go get the karaoke set. Don't pick another fight down here, please." She mumbled and headed upstairs. As she walked passed the long hallway, she stopped in front of her parent's door and thought about opening it. She took a deep breath and slowly pushed the door open, her hand shaking on the door handle. Her head snapped inside and without realizing it, her legs walked inside and she closed the door behind her. Struggling to turn on the light, she remembered that the switch was next to the closet.

Carefully, she walked along the edge of the room until she felt the hard texture of the big closet and her hand found the switch. In seconds, the room was filled with the white bright light. Elena's eyes stopped to look at everything inside and she sat on the huge mattress. She looked over to the nightstands and pulled one of the drawers open. Elena's mouth opened wide as she saw the big wooden box with her mother's initials carved on it. She knew what was inside of it, she had watched her mother open that box enough times to remember it for the rest of her life.

With shaky fingers, she opened the box and looked at all the jewels inside. There were necklaces, bracelets and a lot of rings; all made of yellow and white gold. There were probably a few silver ones as well, but not too many, knowing her father only bought her mother expensive jewelry. As a teenager, she had always dreamt about wearing all those beautiful things and as a kid, she sometimes stole rings from her mother and as well as necklaces. Now, all those memories disgusted her; it reminded her that she used to be such a shallow girl, one that only cared about money, power and beauty. She looked at the jewels for a few more seconds, before closing the lid noisily.

"Elena! Where on earth did you go?" Damon's voice came from the hallway and Elena jumped from her spot and opened the door.

"I'm here. Come in." She whispered and pulled on his hand, dragging him inside. He looked around and seemed confused that she was there. "I know what you're thinking. The other day I told you that I won't be able to go in here and now you found me here. It's confusing even for me, but when I stopped in front of this door, I suddenly felt the urge to see the room, to see what it looked like. And it's exactly the same as I remember it, Damon. Not a single thread moved from its place." Elena sighed and sat back on the mattress, putting the box back to its place and also found her father's old Rolex in the drawer. She ran her thumb on it's display, before putting it back where she found it.

"This place is nice." Damon said, nodding his head.

"Nicer than your place?"

"You've never been to my place."

"True." Elena smiled and stood up. Damon followed her and exited the room, waiting for her to switch off the light and go after him. She closed the door and turned around, continuing her way to her room.

"I'm going to wait for you downstairs." Damon said and walked downstairs, while Elena entered her room and tried to remember where she had put the karaoke set. Not taking too much time, she looked under the bed and found the dusty box. She blew the dust off it and left the room where she had spent one of the best nights of her life.

Elena tripped on the top step and before she knew it, she was no longer in control of her own body. She rolled down the wooden stairs, her body curved like a ball. She heard her head cracking on one of the boards and she didn't stop rolling down until her leg got caught on the bottom step. She felt her sight blackening and she closed her eyes hopeful that for once, she would get that peace she longed so much for.

AN: So much for that joy, huh? Let me know what you thought of this chapter by reviewing it. Musie is happy to read reviews.