Elena's phone lit up for the sixth time that evening, but she didn't both checking who it was. She already knew who it was.

Stefan had been calling her nonstop since she had stomped out of the boarding house after hearing the news that he had been the one who had suggested that idiotic deal between him and his brother.

It frustrated her to no end. How could they just so blindly make a deal that had so much impact on her without even telling her about it? She could picture it so easily: Stefan acting so selfless and offering to leave town if Elena had chosen his brother instead, that way Damon felt compelled to do the same. She hadn't even had to ask who's idea it was, the whole thing screamed Stefan all over it.

Caroline and Bonnie talked obliviously while she sat lost in her own thoughts. Bonnie was visiting from Atlanta where she was currently taking classes, and normally, Elena would have been all over the chance to catch up. But right now, she could barely even keep up with her own thoughts, let alone pretend to care about the cute boy Bonnie had met in her psychology class.

"Oh my god, what the hell is he doing here?" Caroline screeched, yanking Elena out of her thoughts. The blond's gaze was trained at the bar from where they were sitting in a booth at the Grille. Elena turned around.

Damon sat at the bar, his ever present glass of bourbon sitting in front of him. Elena's heart sped up.

"Did you know he was here?" Caroline asked her, glaring at her like it was somehow her fault.

"I guess I forgot to tell you." She shrugged, and turned to look back it him. Elena noticed he was talking to someone, and she struggled to swallow around the lump in her throat when she saw who it was. Meredith Fell.

"But why is he back?" Caroline asked, but Elena was already standing up and walking over to the bar. The two looked too deep into conversation, and her stomach turned with nervousness.

Elena slid up next to Damon, eyeing Meredith warily.

The doctor smiled at the sight of her, "Elena! I was just telling Damon about the back problems you were having, but how the x-ray came up negative." She said, shooting her a sympathetic look.

"And I was just telling Meredith how weird that was. Usually a bone is fractured-"

She cut Damon off quickly, "What would you know about it?" She asked sourly, feeling more uncomfortable by the minute.

Damon blinked innocently at her. "I've been to medical school twice, Elena."

"Where'd you go?" Meredith asked him, a jealous undertone in her voice.

"John Hopkins and Harvard." He simpered. Meredith fired off eager questions about Harvard while Damon stared at Elena, answering them easily. His eyes gleamed knowingly, and the look he was giving her rang with we'll talk about this later. Elena turned around and walked back over to Caroline and Bonnie, his stare following her the whole way.

Later that evening, Elena scrubbed at her skin roughly in the shower, barely feeling it because of the painkillers she'd taken an hour earlier. All day she had been distracting herself, pushing away the inevitable knowledge that sooner or later Damon was going to catch up with her. She had gone shopping with Caroline and Bonnie, played video games with Jeremy and now she was set on grooming herself until there was nothing left to do. Her eyebrows were already plucked, her legs shaven and now she was working on scrubbing her skin and hair until it glowed.

Of course Elena knew that he knew that there was already something up. It was Damon, after all. But he hadn't yet known what that thing was; for all he knew she could have been smoking pot with Jeremy. Now, thanks to Meredith, he probably already had a good understanding of what it was.

Wasn't there some kind of privacy law about not dispelling patient's information, anyways? If Meredith hadn't opened her mouth, then this wouldn't be happening, at least not today. Elena felt guilt rush over her; Meredith had been nothing but nice to her lately.

She turned the shower off and stepped out, brushed her teeth and then slipped on her pajamas. No, this wasn't Meredith's fault. It was nobody's but her own, and if she was being completely honest with herself, she was glad that Damon was the one to find out first. It could have been Jeremy, or even worse, Caroline.

Elena walked out of the bathroom, drying her hair while her mind distracted itself. When she looked up, there was a dark figure standing by her bed. Elena jumped, then calmed when she saw who it was.

"Hey." She said, not bothering to ask why he was here.

Damon didn't answer her, just stared down at something in his hand, his eyebrows drawn together. Elena stepped closer to see what it was, and when she did, her heart sped up nervously. He was holding an orange prescription bottle, with her name typed across the front.

"I was wondering why you've been acting so ditsy lately." He said, switching his gaze to her. Elena's mouth opened to defend herself, to tell him that her back really did hurt, but the skepticism in his eyes stopped her. There was no way he'd believe her.

She deflated, not knowing what to say. He stood up, "Elena-"

"I know, okay?" She suddenly said, "I know it's bad, I know I shouldn't do it, but you can't understand how they just make everything better sometimes. I really don't take them that much, only sometimes." Elena lied, the words leaving her mouth before she gave them permission.

Damon narrowed his eyes, and an unreadable look settled over his features. "How long?"

She sighed and stared at the floor, not wanting to look at his probing eyes anymore. "A little over a year."

"I guess Meredith's not as smart as I thought she was." He mused, and reached his hand down to his pocket, where he slipped the bottle. Elena's eyes followed the movement.

"No, Damon-"

"Elena, you can't turn to drugs for your problems." He spoke quietly, "It never leads to anywhere good."

Elena's eyes watered, because she knew he was right. She was turning to drugs for her problems, and now she was too deep in to get herself out without a mess. And the worse part was, even though she knew she should want to stop, she just didn't.

She felt his hands settle on her face, his fingers pressing into the tear tracks that she was unaware of before. "Look," He sighed, "I shouldn't have left, I didn't want to leave you. I guess I just felt like I owed it to you to be happy with Stefan, after everything that you had been through."

Elena blinked, caught off guard by his words. Then she realized what the look on his face was; he felt guilty. He thought it was his fault.

She reached out to touch his cheek, "Damon-"

"Just let me finish." He interrupted, batting her hand away. "I told you I wasn't going to leave you again, then I broke that promise, when it should have been much more important to me than anything I promised to Stefan. But I won't break it again." He promised, reaching down to hold her hand between the two of his.

Elena couldn't find any words, the icy blue of his eyes rendering her speechless. He closed in on her, and for a split second, Elena thought he was going to kiss her. She kept her eyes on his lips, thinking that any minute they were going to touch hers, but instead she felt them touch her forehead. Déjà vu washed over her strongly. She blinked in confusion when he pressed his forehead to hers. Then, he pulled away.

"Come on." He said brightly, with no trace of the Damon that was there a second ago. He grabbed her hand and started pulling her to the door. "Jeremy needs extra players in Super Smash Brothers."

Elena followed him blindly, his guilt ridden face burning in her head.

A/N: Hoped you guys liked this chapter, and I can't wait to write the next one. Shout-out to siberia21 for being my beta reader, you're awesome! Thanks for reading guys and don't forget to drop off a review!