Gravity

Disclaimer: I don't own anything or anyone from The Vampire Diaries.

September 26th 2013

Thursday 7:30pm

Portland, Oregon

The weather was starting to change.

The temperature is dropping every day, especially at night. I snuggle into my large sweater that I stole from Damon as a shiver runs down my spine. The cold beer bottle between my hands is doing nothing to warm me up.

The sun is on its way out and here we are sitting in the middle of the woods, one tent to my right, and one tent to my left.

Summer is over.

I watch as Damon and Enzo play around with the disposable barbecue we bought, a cigarette hanging from both of their lips, not caring that the smoke will probably go straight into our food that they are making.

I don't think they care.

I don't think I care either.

"Hey,"

I look up to see Megan approaching me with a small smile. She doesn't have beer in her hands, she has something much more serious running through her blood.

My boyfriend made sure of that.

"You okay? You look deep in thought." She takes a seat on the log beside me. I don't miss the little stumble she made while doing so.

"I'm fine."

"Right," Megan replies sarcastically. "Truth this time?"

"I don't know…" I sigh, looking back at Damon who looks about as lost as I feel. I haven't heard him laugh in nearly two weeks.

"Look if this is about the drugs, don't me mad at him." She motions to Damon. "I asked him to sell them to me, and if he said no I would have found another way. I'm not going to hide who I am, Elena, I know what I am and I'm not even ashamed of it." She says so freely.

I look at her in disbelief. "Don't you see what you're doing to yourself?"

"Of course," she replies bluntly, "but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop. I may never stop."

"But you'll die!"

"And so will you," Megan fires back. "Everyone dies, Elena."

I tut and shake my head. "You know that's not what I mean. You're killing yourself."

"I could get hit by a bus tomorrow," she tells me lightly. "I could be in the wrong place at the wrong time and get murdered by a random psychopath; I could get diagnosed with a terminal illness."

"You know that's not the same, Megan." I huff, sick of feeling like I'm constantly repeating myself.

"I do know that." Megan agrees. "I also know that my decisions are my own. If I want to take drugs, I'll take them but until then, you should know that I take responsibility for all of my actions. So would you please stop blaming your boyfriend because this tense atmosphere is starting to ruin my buzz."

"Damon and I are fine." I defend myself immediately but I know that it's a lie.

"Right." She scoffs. "When was the last time the two of you had a meaningful conversation?" she raises her eyebrow.

"Fine." I sigh dramatically. "We haven't been the same since that big argument we had when we first got to Portland. He apologized and I accepted it, hell I even apologized back but…" I trail off. "I don't know…things have just been different…Damon has been different."

Megan looks away and I frown, wondering if she knows something that I don't but I don't get a chance to ask her because Enzo calls out our names to tell us that our food is ready.

When I look over, Damon is already sat eating his own alone in our car.

I wake up groggily to the sound of my phone buzzing beside me. I hit the ignore button without even looking at the caller ID and pull my pillow over my head.

My head is pounding and my stomach doesn't feel all that great either.

Hangovers are the worst.

The buzzing starts again and I groan loudly. "Fuck off!" I mutter but it doesn't stop. I sit up in annoyance and pick up my phone, answering it angrily.

"What?!" I snap down the phone.

A familiar chuckle makes me tense immediately.

"Damon?!"

"You sound hungover." He replies casually, like this isn't the first time we have spoken in nearly four months.

That he's not currently on the run for murder.

"Damon what the hell!" I climb out of bed, needing to be on my feet. "What…where…how are you?" I stutter feeling like I have a million questions but no idea where to start. "What the hell happened with Marcel?!"

"Forget Marcel," Damon sighs and I can suddenly feel the tension in his voice. "That was just a misunderstanding that's all, no harm done."

"No harm done, you tied him up and-"

"Klaus!" he cuts me off. "I didn't call you to talk about Marcel."

"Shit, sorry." I run my hand through my messy hair. "How are you? Is everything okay? How's Elena?" I have a billion thoughts running through my mind. A million questions that need answering.

"Actually that's what I'm calling you about. I need a favor…a big one."

I stand leaning against my car with a nervous pit in my stomach. What I'm about to do could be a disaster, it could be the worst thing I could ever do.

Damon will kill me either way.

However something inside of me is telling me that this needs to happen. I know that this is something I can't do alone.

I watch as Caroline storms towards me from the High School, an angry look on her face as she clutches her phone tightly.

"What do you want?" she huffs once she approaches me in the parking lot. "I had to fake an illness to get out of History for this! Mr Saltzman will probably be sending someone to the bathroom to look for me in about five minutes so you better hurry up with whatever urgent matter you have!"

"Good to see you too, princess." I smirk but Caroline is not impressed.

"Just get on with it, Klaus!"

"How do you feel about a road trip?"

She looks at me flabbergasted. "What?!"

She looks like she's about to blow a vessel and despite the circumstances I'm finding it extremely amusing.

"Are you serious? Why the hell would you get me out of class to ask me how I feel about road trips? Are you on drugs? Stupid question, of course you are! I'm going back to class; I can't believe I even came out here to see you!"

She turns around and starts storming back towards the school and I roll my eyes at her dramatics.

"Portland, Oregon!" I shout after her and she freezes, turning around.

She looks at me, her eyebrows creased together. "Portland, Oregon, what?"

"That's where I'm going," I walk back towards my car and open the driver's side door. "And if you want to see your best friend again, I suggest you come with me."

I can't help but think of Mystic Falls.

I can't help but think of home.

I wonder what they are doing right now. If my Dad is working on Damon's case, if he's trying to prove him innocent or if he is trying to send him down.

I feel like I know the answer to that one.

I don't ignore the fact that I'm missing my senior year of High School. I will probably never graduate. I will never wear a cap and gown with my friends; walk up to collect my diploma terrified that I'll trip up in front of everyone.

I will probably never go to college.

I glance at Damon out of the window of our motel room, a cigarette in his mouth as he unloads the car from our impromptu camping trip.

I pretend that I don't notice how he was gone from a casual smoker to a full time one.

I pretend that I don't notice that he has barely looked me in the eye.

I pretend that I don't notice that we have only had sex once in the last two weeks.

I want to make things right with him but I don't know how to do that without pretending that I feel what he does is right.

I feel guilty.

I feel guilty for thinking about home more. I feel guilty for thinking about school.

I feel guilty for missing my family and friends more than I have ever missed them before.

I look back down at my book as he walks back into the motel room, his baseball cap placed on his head, low towards his eyes. He throws the duffel bag on the floor and I hold back my bite to say that it's not going to unpack itself.

That would be too normal.

Too comfortable.

"Come take a walk with me."

I freeze, my heart stopping as I slowly look up towards him. He is stood in the doorway, his blue eyes on mine for the first time in what feels like forever.

He looks nervous. That makes me nervous.

"I promise we won't be gone long." He explains himself, like he needs to justify us spending some time together.

That makes me feel sick.

I never want him to feel like that.

"Sure," I put on a smile and stand up. He holds out his hand and I nervously take it as I follow him out.

He leads me away from the motel towards a country path which the leads into the woods.

It's quiet, it's private. It's somewhere which would have usually made me excited but instead it just makes me nervous.

He is gripping my hand tightly and I'm holding on just as badly.

We walk for a good twenty minutes before he breaks the silence.

"I'm sorry, Elena."

I frown, wondering what exactly it is he is sorry for.

He stops and turns to face me, his cap still covering the top half of his face. "I should never have sold those drugs to Megan."

I nod, wondering why I felt disappointed that this was the reason he was apologizing to me for. "It's okay, Damon. Megan is responsible for her own actions, I understand that now."

And I do. It may have taken me a little while, but Megan was right. She was going to take those drugs regardless of whether or not she bought them from Damon or a complete stranger.

"But it's not okay." He frowns. "I knew you would be pissed if you found out but I did it anyway. It has nothing to do with Megan."

I shake my head. "You were right, we needed the money."

"I should have found another way."

"Damon," I sigh, pulling my hands away from his. I nervously place them on his shoulders, stepping closer to him. "What's done is done, let's just…move on and pretend it never happened."

He creases his eyebrows together for a moment before nodding slowly. "Okay."

"Okay?" I smile softly at him and for the first time in what feels like forever he sends me a genuine smile back.

"Okay." He confirms, his hands land on my hips and he pulls me closer to kiss him.

"I love you." I whisper against his lips. "Damon Salvatore."

"I love you too." He smiles back. "Elena Gilbert."

"Soon to be Salvatore." I wink at him teasingly, using the line he always uses on me ever since he proposed all those weeks ago.

This time, I completely miss the way his smile faltered as I pressed my lips against his in an intense kiss.

"How many hours left?"

I groan in annoyance, tempted to turn up the radio to drown out her annoying voice.

"I don't know, Caroline! Thirty maybe, here or there, depends on the traffic."

"Thirty hours?!" she wails. "God, why didn't Elena and Damon pick somewhere a little closer to home huh? Instead of being literally at the other side of the country and now I'm stuck with you on a forty plus hour car journey just to get my best friend back!"

I roll my eyes and grip the steering wheel tightly.

"Maybe it had something to do with the fact that they are on the run? You know, from the police? They could hardly stay on their doorstep could they."

"Urgh." She groans. "Don't remind me about that! Elena is going to have to do some major damage control when she gets back."

"If she gets back." I remind her.

Caroline rolls her eyes. "When. You told me yourself that Damon wanted you to go to Portland to take Elena home."

"That doesn't mean that it's what Elena wants." I stress. "Trust me, I know Damon. He is probably on a massive guilt trip believing that sending Elena home is the right thing to do."

"Sending Elena home is the right thing to do."

"You would say that." I accuse her.

"Yes, I would." She replies confidently. "It has nothing to do with how I feel about Damon. Sure, I think he's an asshole but I would have said the same thing if she was with Matt or Mason or whoever else right now."

"I doubt that."

"Well I would!" she defends herself. "I don't care if Damon is guilty or not…ok that's a lie…I hope for Elena's sake that he's not guilty but the fact is, I don't know. You tell me that he's innocent and I want to believe you. Hell, even Stefan Salvatore told me he didn't do it and I wanted to believe him too but-"

I look at her puzzled and cut her off. "You speak to Stefan?"

She frowns defensively. "We have classes together…we have to speak sometimes…so what!"

"Just weird…that's all."

"Urgh whatever," she rolls her eyes. "The point is Elena doesn't deserve this life. She was supposed to spend her senior year with me and Bonnie and rule the school! She was supposed to graduate and go to college! She wasn't supposed to be this person; she wasn't supposed to have this life."

"Maybe she didn't want to do what people thought she was supposed to do. Did you ever think through all of this that maybe the Elena you are remembering isn't actually the same girl who left back in May."

"I'm not stupid, Klaus. I know that she changed. That still doesn't mean that she shouldn't at least finish high school. I don't care if my Mom kills me for missing too much school; I'm not leaving Portland until my best friend is leaving with me."

I hold back my groan.

"It's time for Elena to come home."

Suddenly I'm regretting bringing Caroline along.

I laugh at Megan and Enzo who are bickering about something completely irrelevant across the table from us. It's not like their usual arguments though; they seem lighter, less stressed.

Happy.

I feel lighter too. Damon's arm is wrapped around my waist, my hand on his thigh.

It's only been six hours since we took that walk but it feels like everything is a hundred times better than what it was before.

He pulled me off the gravel path and into the muddy grass before he stripped me of my clothes and kissed me all over my body.

We had sex three times right there in the middle of the woods, not caring that anyone could have walked past at any time and see us. It was intense, hot and beautiful. Slow, soft, and loving.

We went back to our motel to shower and we ended up fucking in the shower. Twice.

This time it was a different kind of intense. It was hard and rough.

It was amazing.

My body is still tingling thinking about our afternoon and I can't wait to go back tonight and continue where we left off.

I feel like we are about to turn a corner.

Damon is still acting quiet; I haven't failed to notice that. However I put it down to lingering guilt, something which I hope will go away with time. He may still be quiet, but he is touching me now, he isn't afraid to hold me.

If anything, he seems more afraid to let me go.

He hasn't left my side once.

"Elena!" I look up at Megan who is looking at me with a smile. "Bathroom?"

"Sure." I smile, I climb past Damon but not before leaving him with a hot slow kiss. He grabs my ass and squeezes it before slapping it jokingly as I climb out of the booth.

I send him a mocking glare over my shoulder and he winks at me with a smirk. My heart flutters but I frown as his smile fades.

I look at him curiously for a moment but Megan grabs my hand and pulls me towards the ladies room.

"You and Damon seem better," she comments casually as we both check ourselves over in the mirror.

"Yeah," I can't help the smile creeping onto my lips. "We are."

"Good." She doesn't peel her eyes away from her own as she re-applies her lipstick. "I'm glad. I was getting bored of both of your sulking." She jokes and I roll my eyes.

"Oh yeah, like you and Enzo have been any better!"

She laughs and digs into her purse and I ignore the fact that she pulls out some a see through bag of white powder.

"Enzo and I are fine," she replies as she sets out her line on the sink. "In fact, I don't think we have ever been better." She muses before leaning down and snorting the cocaine up her nose. "Want some?" she offers, noticing that I've been staring at her.

"No thanks." I respond like I always do every time she offers.

"Good." She winks at me as she places it back in her bag. "You might want to leave now, I'm about to get onto the hard stuff."

She knows that this is when I get comfortable, and every time she tells me to leave.

Every time I do and this time is no different.

I sigh and shake my head but do as she says and leave her alone in the bathroom.

"Dance with me," I wrap my arms around Damon's waist from behind as I sneak up on him at the bar. He's alone, but I don't question where Enzo is.

He smiles and turns around, downs the rest of his drink before pressing a kiss to my lips and lets me drag him towards the dance floor.

It's busy in this club tonight but I remind myself that it is a Friday night. We push through the crowds until we are in the middle of the dance floor. My arms fly around his neck as his land low on my hips.

He's drunk.

I can tell by the way that he is swaying his hips.

I giggle as he presses a sloppy kiss to my neck, his grip on my hips tightening. "I love you." He slurs drunkenly into my ear. "So fucking much."

I smile widely, pulling his head back and pushing some of his hair from his face. It's damp; sweat is building from the heat. Droplets building in his hair and on his forehead, he looks tired.

I lean forward and kiss him. "I love you too." I murmur against his mouth. "So fucking much." I wink at him playfully and he grins and kisses me again.

"Want to get out of here?" he asks quietly and I nod my head eagerly.

"Yeah, let's go." He clutches my hand and pulls me away from the dance floor.

"Fuck." He groans in annoyance and I look at him curiously.

"What?"

"Enzo has my wallet."

"Why does Enzo have your wallet?" I ask him amused.

"The bastard cut me off! Said I had enough to drink." He doesn't sound impressed and I laugh.

"Maybe that was for the best, huh?" I tease and tap his chest. "Come on, let's go find him. He must be around here somewhere."

"Check the dark corners; he's probably there with his fingers up Megan's skirt."

"Damon!" I gasp, slapping his arm but I can't help the laugh that falls from my lips.

"What?" he asks innocently but I see the mischief in his eyes. "You know that I'm probably right."

I laugh and shake my head but follow him anyway.

After a frustrating fifteen minutes of looking for Enzo through this packed club, dark corners included, we end up back where we started and no sight of him or Megan.

"Maybe they left?" I ask.

Damon frowns. "Fucking bastard probably did and used my cash for a cab."

I sigh in annoyance, noting that it's something that Enzo would actually do. Especially when he's drunk.

"Come on, we can walk back to the motel. It's not that cold." I reason, noticing that Damon is looking less than impressed.

"You want to walk? In those heels." He motions to my feet and I shrug. "We both know fine well, Elena that I will end up having to carry your ass."

I tut and slap him on the arm again. "Are you trying to say that I'm heavy?" I challenge him.

He groans. "No! I'm trying to say that I'm drunk and tired and that Enzo is an asshole."

I roll my eyes and pull him towards the exit. "Come on, let's just walk home! We might as well make good use of the weather, winter is coming." I tease as we walk outside.

Damon stops, tugging on my hand to pull me back. "You did not just quote Game of Thrones."

I shrug. "So what if I did."

"You hate that show…you always whine when I put it on."

I shrug. "I might hate it…but you don't."

He looks at for a moment and I'm taken aback when his lips slam against mine. I gasp, his arms tightening around mine as he kisses me passionately.

I finally pull away when the need for air is vital.

"What was that for?" I ask breathlessly.

"Thank you for loving me."

I look at me him bemused. "You're welcome?"

"Seriously Elena…thank you."

"Damon," I let out a dry laugh, taken aback from the seriousness in his voice. "You don't need to thank me for loving you. Loving you is easy."

"No," he shakes his head. "I make it hard. I know I do."

"You make being with you hard sometimes, sure." I admit honestly because there is no point lying about it. "Just like I'm sure I do for you too. But loving you? No, loving you is the easiest thing for me. It would be harder to not be in love with you, Damon."

He smiles and I swear for a second I see a tear. I blink and it's gone and I probably just imagined it because Damon never cries.

I let him kiss me.

I let him pull me into a back dark alleyway for privacy.

I let him hoist up my dress.

My hands fiddle with the zipper on his jeans, struggling to open them as my eyes roll back in pleasure as Damon bites, kisses and sucks on my neck.

"Oh god," I groan but then Damon freezes. "Damon?" my eyes flutter open but Damon shushes me, taking a slow step back.

"Do you hear that?" he whispers.

"Hear what?" I ask confused.

He tugs down my dress, much to my disappointment and pulls me back from the cold wall behind me.

"Listen," he slowly walks further into the small dark alleyway . A nervous pit reaches my stomach as I start to hear something.

I follow him, reaching out to take his hand as I feel a wave of fear take over me.

It sounds like…crying?

Damon turns to look at me with a frown on his face and he must recognize it too.

We edge closer and round the corner towards the back of the club.

I freeze.

My heart stops.

My hand falls from Damon's.

There sits Enzo on the dirty graveled ground. He is hunched over sobbing. His eyes are closed and he hasn't even noticed our presence yet.

I step closer and that's when I see clearly in the darkness that he is not alone.

In his arms lies a limp unconscious body.

A body that looks like Megan.

I gasp.

Enzo raises his head, his eyes squinting at us in the darkness as he slowly recognizes us.

Damon is stood frozen in front of me as Enzo looks up at us with broken eyes, his lips quivering. His entire body shaking and I feel like I'm going to be sick.

"She's dead."

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