"A Moment In Time"

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters; those belong to their original creators. The way it's all stringed together is of my making. No profit is being made out of this (*sigh* unfortunately).

Fandom(s): Vampire Diaries
Character(s): Damon Salvatore and Elena Gilbert
Pairing: Damon/Elena

Rating: T
Words: 980words

Requested By: none
Challenge/Summary: Spin-off of the 4x13 Webclip. Elena asks Damon what he plans to do with the cure. Will he take it?
Inspiration: After watching the first webclip for episode 4x13.

Spoiler(s): everything up to ep. 4x12 ("A View To A Kill")
Time Frame: Immediately after the webclip scene.

A/N: Additional comments at the end to avoid spoilers.

Food for Thought: I was rewatching VD 1x17 today (when Fredrick takes Stefan hostage) and I noticed something…while in the woods, Elena plunges a vervain dart into Fredrick before she checks on Stefan. Now here's my thought…why didn't Elena use that moment to stake Fredrick in the heart and then tend to Stefan once Fredrick (the threat) was eliminated? It's like she wanted Stefan to do the killing after she fed him her blood (which she knows is against his diet) because she was too scared to do the killing herself. I mean c'mon, she just vervained a vampire and then she just stops and doesn't finish the job…that just seems iffy to me.

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"Will You Take It?"

"You know, you never talked about what you'll do about the cure once we've found it. Will you take it?" Elena questioned nervously as she and Damon stood on a beach near Nova Scotia.

Damon looked at Elena with a little bit of hesitance. He knows that answer that she wants to hear and he knows what he wants. He just couldn't confess it now; he couldn't get his hopes up.

Damon shrugged. "I don't like to speculate."

Elena frowned. "You've never thought about it? Not once?"

"Oh I've thought about it Elena, you just won't like my answer." He stated the moment he realized that she wasn't going to drop the subject.

"You can tell me Damon. We're in this together." She pushed before moving towards him and taking his free hand in hers.

He huffed; not wanting to talk about his choice with the cure in regards to himself. "Let's just focus on getting the cure for you."

"But I want to know what you'll do with it." She insisted as she stared up at him.

Damon gritted his teeth as he looked towards the water. "You're not going to let this go, are you?"

Elena squeezed his hand. "Will you take the cure?"

"No." He quickly felt Elena's grip loosen but he tightened his grip before she could pull away. "And it's not because I don't want to be human again." He quickly explained before she didn't give him a chance to.

Elena exhaled as she tried to keep her disappointment at bay. "Then why not?"

Damon shrugged. "For many reasons Elena in which we can discuss later."

"Now is as good of a time as any." Elena declared with a shake of her head. She wasn't going to let him brush the discussion aside.

Damon exhaled deeply as he tried to figure out how to phrase his explanation. He didn't want to burden her with his worries and yet he didn't want her to think that he didn't want to be with her after she took the cure and broke the sire bond between them. He'd do anything for Elena, he'd accept her no matter what she was; there was no doubt about that. He just didn't want his worries to affect her actions when it came to finding the cure. He looked down into Elena's eyes and exhaled once again.

"I don't want to be human if Klaus is still a threat. I don't want to be human if Katherine is still running around. I don't want to be human if Silas does exist." With every reason he listed, he watched as the realization set in her eyes. A part of him was glad that at least she understood what those statements truly meant for them because they had experienced it; Elena was human when Klaus came into their lives while Damon was human when Katherine destroyed his. He didn't want to say this next part but he just had to drive it home all the way for her to truly understand. "If there is one thing I've learn, it's that being human against those threats means being vulnerable. It means death." He stated because when it came to it, Elena died by the hands of an Original while Damon died because of Katherine.

Elena's breath hitched when Damon's words finally settled into her mind because deep down, she knew he was right. It was as if getting the cure was all her mind was set on because she never really considered anything that Damon was telling her now. Before Jeremy killed Kol, they all assumed that Klaus wanted the cure to turn Elena human which led her to believe that she would be safe from him afterwards. Yet that wasn't the case anymore. Now when it came to Katherine, Elena had completely forgotten about her vampire ancestor roaming around. She remembered how helpless she was as a human when Katherine came to town and she didn't want that again. And then there was Silas. If an Original vampire like Kol was terrified of Silas walking the earth then anyone beneath him should be horrified at the idea of Silas being released and yet she had just written Silas off as a fairy tale…just like vampires were to her before she met the Salvatores.

Unknown to the realizations in Elena's mind, Damon continued his argument after looking Elena in the eyes once again while taking both of her hands in his. "I've accepted being a vampire a long time ago Elena so I don't mind staying the way I am for a little while longer. And with you wanting to be human again…is it wrong for me to want to stay a vampire just so that I know that I can actually protect you better than if I were human?"

Elena's eyes softened after hearing what Damon would give up for her. "Damon…" She wanted to tell him that she couldn't ask him to give up his chance at being human again. She'd never forgive herself if she were the reason that Damon didn't get what he wanted, especially after all the pain her rejection has caused him since they've met. Yet before she could utter those thoughts to him, he jumped in with another statement.

"Don't get me wrong Elena, I would take the cure for you but only if I know you were truly safe and in no need of a vampire to protect you." He declared because he truly would take it for Elena. He's missed being human for so long and the idea of being human with Elena was just more appealing the longer he thought about it...but he can wait.

Elena didn't know what to say after that.

What does one say to someone who's willing to pass up an opportunity to gain what they've lost if it meant keeping you safe?

A simple 'thank you' would hardly be enough.

So Elena went for the next best thing she could think of…she closed the distance between them before she pulled him down for a kiss.

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A/N #1: Now I apologize if the ending sucked (this is not my best writing) but I was more interested in the dialogue and Damon's reason behind why he wouldn't take the cure the moment they found it. While we all know why Elena wants to be human again but for me, I thought Damon might hesitate on taking the cure for himself and giving up the advantages that came with being a vampire even though in 2x12 he confessed that he missed being human. This was my take on the hesitance which I hope stays as close to Damon's character as possible (aside from his last comment being a bit 'mushy' than usual). Aside from that...what do you think? Wishful thinking?

A/N #2: Thank you to everyone who took the time to read my latest snippet/challenge on Vampire Diaries, it means the world to me! A special thanks to Enx2103 and Ghostwriter for leaving me a review for my previous snippet. Once again, thank you for always leaving your thoughts for me to read and respond to. THANK YOU!

Coming Up Next: TBA

Originally Published: February 4, 2013