I apologize for the long wait.

Enjoy this next part.

JANUARY 2014

Since their impetuous kiss four days before, Elena and Damon hadn't talked or even said a word to each other at all.

Elena felt like he was avoiding her as if she had leprosy or something. He hadn't returned her calls or replied to any of her texts; she had barely seen him! Was this really just about him feeling guilty relatively to Rebekah?! Because, to be honest, Elena really couldn't care about the woman's feelings: like she just didn't give a damn. The blonde vampire was a bitch, a hardhearted and insensitive bitch who had never done anything more but cause people harm.

Elena didn't regret kissing Damon; she felt no guilt and no shame, and certainly not towards Rebekah. She had wanted to kiss Damon for some time now, and Friday, she finally did all that simply. She wasn't going to feel sorry about it. To be honest, the only thing on her mind at the moment was what was going on inside Damon's head: she was well aware of his feelings for her, which is why his reaction to her kiss surprised her so much. She didn't understand why he didn't simply give in to the outburst of passion. This was so unlike him! He wasn't exactly the type that resisted to his impulses; he was more of the type that acted and thought of the consequence afterwards.

Oh and crap! You know what? Enough is enough; and she had had enough. She was going to go and talk to him, and he was going to listen.

"Elena?" Damon said surprise dripping from his voice after opening the door and seeing the raven-haired woman standing in front of him. "What are you doing here?"

She didn't wait for him to tell her to come in to do so: she walked past him and towards the living-room where she finally turned and waited for him to join her. He irritatingly closed the door and did join her. "You know, Elena, most of the time, when someone ignores your phone calls and numerous messages, it is not a disguised invitation to come and bother them in their house." He derisively informed her.

"Are you suggesting that I'm bothering you?" she questioned him crossing her arms.

"Nooo, never. It's always a delight." Damon responded ironically, and she gave him a look.

"Again, to what do I owe your visit?" he inquired.

"We kissed each other." She rightfully reminded him. "I think that deserves a conversation." she declared pointedly.

Damon sighed boringly and collapsed on his couch. He grabbed his glass and emptied it of its liquor before putting it down. Elena sat slowly next to him and grabbed the glass to smell its interior. She put it back down and turned to Damon inquisitively. He glanced at her a couple of times before finally asking, irritated: "What?!"

"Why are you drinking?" Elena asked him.

"Because I am thirsty! Can I?!" he burst out.

The raven-haired woman frowned and opened her mouth slightly in indignation. "Hey, quit being defensive! I didn't do anything to you." She told him, and he huffed in response.

She put her hand on his delicately. He tensed lightly at the touch. "Damon, this is me… You can talk to me." She told him, and she felt him relax.

He removed his hand from hers, and filled his glass again with scotch. "Rebekah and I broke up." He said in an emotionless voice before bringing his glass to his lips.

Elena raised her hand and placed it against his wrist preventing him from drinking. "Don't." She said, and after a few seconds of reflection, he reluctantly complied and put down the drink.

"You told her about us?" Elena inquired.

He shook his head.

"Did she find out?" Elena asked yet another question.

To be honest, the reason of the why didn't matter much to the raven-haired woman; she was just being prying. Whether they broke up because Rebekah was too stupid to let him go or because they had fallen into an argument, or even because she didn't like his wardrobe was really irrelevant. Bottom line was Damon was single. He was back on the market. He was a-v-a-i-l-a-b-l-e. And you know what? So was she! Strange coincidence, huh? 'Let's make the most of it.' she said to herself interiorly.

Once again, he shook his head in response.

"Then, what happened?" she questioned as she reached out for the glass filled with liquor on the table.

"I broke up with her." He answered after shrugging.

Elena who had been drinking from his glass half-threw up. That was unexpected. She elegantly brought the back of her hand to wipe the liquor on her lower lip. "What?!" she made sure she hadn't heard wrong.

"I broke up with Rebekah." He repeated nonchalantly.

At first, Elena merely stared at him in inner disbelief, her face unreadable, then, all of a sudden, she looked away and lightly pinched her mouth clearly repressing a smile.

"Elena, I can tell you want to laugh." He let her know.

She looked back at him and saw the pointed look he was giving her. She covered her face with her left hand half-shamefully, a small smile slightly visible underneath.

"I'm sorry." She mumbled.

Damon huffed. "No, you're not." He countered.

Elena leant forward as she let out a stifled laugh. She removed her hand from her face. "No, I'm not." She confirmed shaking her head. "I'm sorry, I'm just…not." She ended turning to look at him.

"Then, I guess it's a good thing I'm not asking you to be." Damon replied.

"Elena opened her mouth hesitantly a question at the tip of her mouth, but snapped it shut thinking it twice. She then decided to go for it after all. "May I ask why you broke up with Rebekah?" she asked him.

"Isn't it obvious?" he asked back.

She slightly creased her brows and shook her head indicating to him that she honestly didn't know.

"I broke up with her because I'm in love with you."

At that, Elena stopped: as though a picture was being taken, her face stilled and her expression turned impenetrable. 'This is happening…' she thought to herself.

Elena recovered her spirits. "You told Rebekah that?" she asked him.

He nodded with the eyes.

"Wow…" Elena let out. This was happening. "What did she say?" she asked.

Damon knit his brows in confusion at her question. "What's your point?" he asked back.

"I don't have one." She responded. "I'm just… processing." She said.

Damon looked down, and then, back up at her.

An awkward silence settled between them.

"Wow, that's… I wish I could say I was sorry, but I'm not." Elena eventually declared.

Damon half-huffed half-chuckled. "I wasn't expecting you to be." He replied.

"Um…" Elena hesitated. She wasn't sure where to go from there. Jumping in the sack would probably be a bit too soon. "There's an open mic at Mystic Grill. It started…" She paused and looked at her watch. "…two minutes ago. Do you want to go check it out?" She proposed.

"I don't really feel like going out." He admitted.

She nodded. "We can call it a date…" She coaxed.

Damon turned his head to look at her. "Well, if we can call it a date…" he said, and Elena smiled at him knowing that they had just agreed on going.

Damon stood up from the couch and put his jacket on. "Let's go." He said and leant forward to grab Elena's keys.

"Wait." Elena said standing up as well. Damon gave her a questioning look. She got slightly on her toes and brought her face closer to his. She grabbed his nape and pressed her lips against his tenderly.

The kiss only lasted a few seconds, after which Elena pulled away and returned to her normal height. "Now, that's more like it." She commented.

Damon slowly opened his eyes and met Elena's beautiful brown ones gazing up on him. She smiled at him tenderly and the corners of his mouth raised into a kind-hearted smile in return.

MARCH 2013

Damon and Elena returned from the college party they went to in the most complete bliss. They were stumbling and laughing so hard one could have thought they were completely drunk, when in fact they had barely drank two beers! Well, that was true for Elena; Damon, him, might have had an entire pack.

Be that as it may, the point is the couple hadn't made more than one step into the Salvatore Boarding House that they were all over one another. Elena heard the door slam and next thing she knew, she was pressed against the wall, and Damon's lips were assaulting her neck. Her mouth drew open in pleasure as he sensually kissed her jugular.

She got hold of him by the scruff of his neck and brought his mouth back on hers. She kissed him ardently, and he steadied himself by holding her hips. She circled his neck with her arms as their tongues met in a sensual embrace. Damon used his grip on her to press their bodies flush against one another eliciting a soft moan from Elena.

Out of breath, she gently broke the kiss. She pressed her forehead against his trying to recover her spirits; then, she slightly pulled away and looked up at him. Their eyes locked.

They gazed at each other like that –absent-mindedly –for what felt like an eternity until Elena looked down and dropped her arms from his shoulders. She reached out for his left hand and squeezed it tightly before starting to lead them further into the house. At the level of the stairs, Damon stopped her by using his hold on her hand causing her to turn to him. She knit her brows lightly in confusion. "Are you sure about this?" he bravely asked her, and the apprehension in his voice almost made Elena's heart break.

She slowly got closer to him. She reached out for his right hand and looked up to gaze straight in his light blue eyes. She got slightly on her toes and pressed her lips against his softly with the definite aim to wash all his doubts away, what her tender kiss achieved.

"I am." She reassured him after pulling back.

She attempted to get them to continue their way upstairs, but he tugged on her right hand and got her to turn back to him. He then carried her bridal style making her giggle lightly and flashed them to his room.

Once there, he put her down on her feet and laid sensual kisses all over the right corner of her mouth. He slid down her black dress' zipper and let the fine material fall to the floor leaving her in nothing but her lacy red bra and her matching panties. Elena made a few steps backwards pulling Damon with her. He sat, or rather threw her on the bed with more or less roughness. Propped up on her elbow, she stared at him expectantly as he slid off his leather jacket and removed his shirt quickly.

Now shirtless, Damon leaned forward and kissed Elena with a renewed fervor like there would be no tomorrow. For an instant, Elena felt like her heart would explode out of her chest because of the outburst of passion.

They moved to the top of the bed, their lips never separating. Damon's lips left her mouth for her cheek where he left a trail of hot kisses on his way down to her neck. Elena threw her head back and closed her eyes in enjoyment.

His lips found her jugular and lingered there. "Oh yeah, yes, right there." Elena encouraged him.

"Oh…" She let out a raw moan as he continued with his sweet torturing ministrations.

She buried her hand in his hair and tugged at it gently to bring his luscious lips back to hers. She kissed him ardently and frowned in pleasure when their tongues met in a passionate tangle. Damon who had one hand on her hip pressed their bodies closer together to the point that there was no more space left between them. Elena lightly arched her back and her intimate parts briefly came into contact with Damon's hardening length through his jeans causing them both to groan.

Elena pressed Damon's face to hers even more than it already was while raising her head and deepened the kiss. She ran her hand up and down his spine inducing goose bumps to appear on the spot. She pressed herself against him as much as she possibly could. Elena felt overwhelmed with the onslaught of emotions she was feeling at the moment.

Elena's hand moved from its actual spot on Damon's brawny lower chest to his jeans. She undid his belt and slid his fly down. Damon withdrew shortly from his position on top of her to get rid of the unnecessary material covering his legs. Elena watched him do so and bit her lip at the beautiful sight of Damon in nothing other than his pair of boxers –which he wouldn't be wearing much longer.

Freed of his jeans, he returned to the raven-haired woman and attempted to kiss her; however, instead of complying and letting him have his way with her, Elena braced a hand against his chest and pushed him back taking control of the operations.

Though caught off guard, Damon quickly understood her intentions and smirked devilishly at her making her grin back at him. She cupped his face gently and just when he thought she was going to kiss him, Elena diverted her lips from his mouth and laid them on his jawline instead, getting a groan of contestation from him. She lavished his neck with sensual grazes before heading for his chest, which she assailed with burning open-mouth kisses.

Damon couldn't believe what was happening to him: he couldn't believe these were Elena's fingers on his skin. He couldn't believe this was her touch, her mouth… he had dreamed of this moment too many times to count. He lightly shivered from thrill under the soft caresses of her fingers and the sensual strokes of her tongue. She descended lower and lower tracing her path with her forefinger and her mouth, sending delicious shivers of pleasure through Damon.

She stopped at his waistband and put herself in a straddling position before unhooking her bra. Elena had barely tossed it away that she was back on her back and Damon was gazing down on her. He took in her holistic appearance: she was perfect. Her tempting neck, her appealing breasts, her beautiful navel… she was flawless –the perfect replica of Katherine, Damon couldn't help but notice.

He rolled them back with his vampiric speed and gazed down on her. He looked straight into her eyes as he said. "I love you so much."

Elena's eyes went back and forth between each of his eye until she raised her head to close the distance between them. They spent the rest of the night showing to the other just how much they cared about them.

That night represented a lot to Damon and Elena. To Damon, it meant the realization of a dream he never even really dared to believe in. To Elena, it meant letting go of the past and welcoming the future. For both of them, it was the consolidation of a blossoming relationship and the beginning of something new.

/

The first thing Damon became aware of the next morning was the weight off his chest and the lack of warmth in the bed. As he opened his eyes, he instantly noticed Elena was out of the bed. He turned to the other side and closed his right eye, dazzled by the first rays of sunlight. He looked all around the room: no sign of Elena.

It then occurred to him that maybe she had left. Maybe she had woken up in the morning, realized this was all one giant mistake, and decided to go back on everything and pretend nothing ever happened. He felt his heart sink slightly at the thought, but quickly shook it away. No, she wouldn't leave like that; it wasn't Elena's style.

Just then, he spotted Elena's dress and underwear on the floor, which meant that she was still in the house, so either she was wandering around naked… or she was dressed with nothing other than his shirt that seemed to be missing from the clothes scattered on the floor. Now, which hypothesis did he prefer…? Hmm…probably the former.

He was about to get out of bed to go look for Elena when, as if on noticed, she appeared at his door.

"Hey, there!" She exclaimed joyfully.

Damon didn't greet her back: he was too caught up in her. He took in her appearance: she was wearing his shirt indeed, and she looked beyond hot in it.

She jumped on the bed and moved closer to him.

"Sleep well?" she asked him.

"Mmmhh." He hummed. "You?" he asked back.

"Best sleep in weeks." Elena responded vividly with the brightest smile, a light tint of pink on the cheeks, not looking at him in the eyes though.

She turned to him and leaned in for a kiss. Damon brought a gentle hand in her soft hair. Elena slowly pulled away and looked up into his eyes, and she caught something in them. What? She didn't know. She couldn't quite put a name on it.

She furrowed her brows slightly. "Damon?" she called. "What is it?" she asked him in a knowing tone.

"What do you mean?" he asked her in a false oblivious tone.

"You seem… disbelieving." She remarked. "Had you forgotten that we had spent the night together?" She asked him jokingly nudging him in the elbow.

He laughed softly, though Elena could tell it was a forced laugh. "Hey, what's the matter?" She asked him. "Any regrets?" she inquired.

"No." Damon answered simply.

"Then what is it?" she insisted. "Is this the effect waking up next to me…" She began to ask but let her sentence unfinished as something occurred to her.

She looked at him, her eyes intent on his as she spoke. "Damon… when you woke up and didn't find me by your side in bed…, did you think I had left?"

At her question, Elena noticed how the Salvatore man's gaze suddenly became much more avoiding.

"Damon!" she exclaimed in a reproaching tone.

"Uh… I woke up and you weren't here! What was I supposed to think?!" Damon said in a defensive tone.

"I don't know, Damon! But thinking that I had simply left you should not have been your first thought!" She told him, honestly angry that he would think so low of her. Then, she realized that Damon had never really been lucky with love, and it wasn't like she had always been so sure of her feelings for him. Even now at this point, she knew she wanted to be with him; she knew that she cared for him, but unlike with Stefan, she wasn't sure this was forever and always.

"Hey, we're together now, right?" She spoke in a softer voice. "We're a couple." She actually stated their recent change in status. "I'm not leaving you." She said to him in a voice that was intended to be reassuring. "You're not getting rid of me, Salvatore." She joked and Damon half-huffed half-chuckled.

He raised his hand and traced the contour of her face. "I love you." He said simply. "I would never want to get rid of you." He declared.

Elena smiled at him tenderly, and leaned in for a kiss. He surrounded her hip with his left arm and pulled her closer to him getting her in a lying position on the bed. She held on to him by his neck as he moved his body to get in top of her, firmly decided on giving her one more reason not to leave him.

APRIL 2014

Damon was beyond satisfied with everything. He had never thought he would ever experience what he was currently experiencing. For the first time in his life, the place where he was …, it felt right. All of the pieces of his life had finally fallen into place. His life had finally found a meaning, and he had finally found a purpose: making Elena happy –almost as happy as she was making him. He was so happy; everything was so perfect it was almost surreal. He finally got the girl.

It had been a little more than a month since he and Elena had –officially –gotten together. He could barely that they had made it that long. Yep, she hadn't dumped his ass yet. He was wondering how long it would take her to though. As much as he wanted to, it was hard to believe that this would last, that they would be forever. He wanted to believe it. He wanted to believe in love and in them, and he did, to a certain extent… It was just hard to shut out all of his insecurities.

Whatever the future had in store for them, the point was that now, Damon and Elena were happy and growing strong. Every single day was a new accomplishment to them. They discovered more and more of each other every day, and Damon loved Elena more every day. He had told her a few times since their night together. She hadn't reciprocated, not then, not after; however, Damon felt like she was getting there.

Though she hadn't verbally expressed her feelings to him, he could tell how much she cared about him by her every day actions: the way she would caress his face, run her hands through his hair, kiss him absolutely all the time with no reason at all –not that he minded. She showed him her affection by the patterns she would draw on his bare chest when they would lazily lay in bed in the early morning or even the way she would gaze at him sometimes with that particular emotion in her brown eyes that he hadn't managed to decipher yet.

That was more than Damon ever hoped for. That was more than he knew he deserved; and that was enough… for now.

JUNE 2014

Today was Damon's birthday. For the occasion, Elena had planned for him what she hoped would be the most romantic evening. In fact, the elder Salvatore was currently out of his home having men time with Jeremy, whom she had asked to distract Damon while she arranged everything for their evening.

She had so much to do, but she found lounging around was so agreeable…

The bell of Damon's cellphone was what compelled her to finally get out of bed. 'He must have forgotten it.' She thought to herself.

Not thinking that Damon would mind, she grabbed his cellphone and answered, without going through the trouble of looking who was calling.

'Hello?' She answered. There was no answer from the other end of the phone. 'Hello?' She said again, this time in a pointed voice.

'Hello?' She eventually heard him say back.

Her eyes widened and she literally stopped breathing for an instant. 'Stefan?' she called, uncertainty laced into her voice as though they were one.

'It's me.' He said.

It was him. That was clear; there was no doubt. She would recognize that voice among a thousand. She would recognize that breathing among a thousand.

'Hi.' She said again and immediately cursed in her head for that.

He didn't reply.

'It's been a long time.' She remarked.

She could barely believe it: she was talking to Stefan! It had been so long…, and she hadn't heard from him at all. She didn't know if he was mad at her, she didn't know if he regretted this situation, if he wished he could go back… She didn't even know if he was okay. She had spent months with so many questions, and no answers. It had been nerve-wracking.

'Yes.' Stefan agreed.

'How are you?' She asked.

'Fine.' He answered.

'Are you going to keep answering me in monosyllables?" she questioned.

'No. No.' Stefan answered.

'Oh, thank you. That's so much better.' She commented ironically rolling her eyes. The good news was his lack of communication was a clear indication of his own discomfort: so she wasn't the only one to find this odd…

'Are you calling to talk to Damon?' she stated the obvious.

'Yes.'

Elena smiled at that. She had already guessed the purport of his call, but it felt good to hear him say it. She knew the relationship between the two brothers wasn't at its best and she knew she was quite accountable for that given that they both had romantic feelings for her and Stefan had left town primarily because of her connection with Damon. Therefore, she was glad that Stefan still cared about his brother enough to put all of their differences aside for a day and call the latter to wish him a happy birthday. She wasn't surprised though. This was Stefan after all: he was always the bigger man –and the better.

'Are you smiling?' He asked her confusing her with his accurate guess.

'How did you know?' She asked him, confusion and agreeable surprise dripping from her voice.

Stefan cracked a tight-lipped smile of his own and lightly rolled his eyes at her question.

'Are you rolling your eyes at me?' Elena asked him narrowing her eyes over the phone.

There was a brief moment of silence soon followed by his chuckle.

'I guess we both know each other pretty well.' Elena concluded.

Halfway from their destination, which was still a secret to Damon, the latter realized he had forgotten his phone at the Boarding House, so he asked Jeremy to turn around.

Damon was downstairs at the level of the staircase on his way up when he heard Elena speak with somebody, apparently on the phone, and stopped on his steps to listen in.

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