This is for imly. I wasn't planning on adding any more to this one shot but oh well. Enjoy.

With ankles crossed and her knees leaning against the center console, she watched as Damon slid into the driver's seat, starting the engine with the turn of a key. She wanted to touch him and run her fingers through his silky raven hair. But her little brother was in the backseat and he wouldn't really appreciate if she jumped on Damon, especially while he was driving.

Rubbing her hands together, she forced them into submission pushing them into her lap. Observing his movements, a sigh escapes her lips. She adored the subtle tilt of his head when he turns onto a main road. Every movement seems as though he's planned it out ahead of time. He's just that good. Feeling a chill, she rubbed her arms, continuing to watch him from her seat.

He hadn't uttered a word since the motel. He said those words back but it felt as though he was distancing himself as far as he could. When Jeremy came out minutes later, Damon faked a smile for the boy and walked back inside without another word. She didn't know what was wrong with him. It's not like had had given her a chance to speak to him. He was avoiding her every chance he got since like the plague.

She would just have to discuss it with him later when Jeremy wasn't sitting in the back able to hear every word they would say.

Her head laid up against the glass of the window next to her, a grimace on her face. Just when she thought that they could be happy together and move on from everything in the past, he had to go and start acting this way. But she couldn't say she was surprised anymore. Happiness was elusive for her, it never lasted long. All she could say was that she hoped Damon believed her when she said she was completely and hopelessly in love with him.

He made her question every promise, every choice she had ever made to herself since the beginning. He made her open up when she didn't want to let herself in. He helped her to breathe when she didn't want to anymore and he helped her to see that it was okay to fall in love again and it was okay to experience something you didn't know even if it scared you and even if the future wasn't a given. Especially for her.

The future was looking up though, even if it was just for the moment. And they needed to seize it while it was still there. He was closing her out because of her past decisions, she knew. He was scared that she would go back to his brother in near time but she wouldn't. Not anymore. Hopefully, she would be able to get through to him and show him that.

As if he sensed her melancholy mood, his hand wrapped around hers, clasping it tightly in his warm palm. The action pulled her from her thoughts and she raised her head up to him, giving him a light smile as if to say she was okay. He squeezed her hand in response, returning the smile before turning his attention back to the road.

She yawned, blinking to keep her eyes open and took another glance at Damon. His eyes were firmly planted on the black cement in front of them, his face expressionless. She knew he could feel her eyes on him and he lightly started rubbing his thumb across the skin of her hand, lulling her to sleep.

"Elena,"

Her eyes fluttered open and she raised up her head from the window, looking around for the voice. When her eyes landed on Damon she made a muffled sound asking him what he wanted.

"Do you want something to eat inside? I have to get gas." Damon asked, his voice monotone.

She shook her head and straightened up in her seat. Damon wordlessly shut the door and started walking inside of the gas station when Jeremy spoke up in the back.

"Did you mean it?"

A puzzled expression crept up on her face and she turned in her seat to face the teenager in the back. "What do you mean?"

"Rose visited me when we first started driving and she told me to ask you if you really meant what you said to Damon. And, she asked if it was genuine. She said she didn't mean any disrespect but she said don't play with his heart. She didn't know if he could take any more of it nor deserved it. She wanted to know if you really made your decision." Jeremy paused, taking a breath and furrowing his eyebrows. "Did you Elena?"

She would describe her love for the Salvatore's like charging horses pulling in opposite directions. Both of them is important, each one of them a part of her soul. They always have been. She just needed to get them to charge in the same direction, to pull together and make her decision. Problem was, she never knew how.

"Yes, I meant it." Elena said, nodding her head deep in thought. "I meant every bit of what I said to him. I love him, Jer. And, I think I have for a long time..."

Jeremy nodded at her response. "Okay." He wouldn't push it further. If his sister was happy, he was happy. "Rose only asked that you two be honest with each other and that she ships you two and she always has. She said she loves you and him together and she wishes you the best."

Elena smiled at Rose's words, wishing she was still there. The woman had never been around long but she had made such a big impact on her and Damon's lives. It crushed Damon when she died and he lost one of his only friends. Even she was heartbroken to hear Rose had passed.

"Well, tell her that I said thank you and that I will be truthful to Damon. She has nothing to worry about."

"And, she also said that Damon can be the best thing for you or the worst."

The statement caught Elena off guard and she raised her eyebrows, surprised to hear one of her thought's come from another's mouth.

"But, she said she thinks he is the best for you. And I quote, "Stefan is good for her. He always will be but Damon surprises her, challenges her. He makes her question her life. And, It is one of the many reasons why Elena Gilbert fell in love with Damon Salvatore and why they are perfectly made for one another'"

Before she had the chance to respond, the driver's side door opened back up and Damon slid in starting the car again.

"What'd I miss?" he asked, looking at her expression.

Elena smiled, still processing the words in her brain. "Nothing. We were just talking about bed."

Once Jeremy left the car and was safely inside of his house, Damon continued driving to the Boarding House in silence.

Her nerves were frayed to the quick. In her building anxiety, she constructed elaborate rationalizations for why everything would turn out alright, but still the nagging voice in the back of her mind spoke of nothing but doom ahead for their newfound relationship that they hadn't even begun yet.

When the car came to a stop, Damon pulled the key from the ignition and stepped out of the car with her following. She hoped this wouldn't turn out into a fight like it usually did. She hoped he believed her but Damon was always a barrel full of surprises.

To be expected, in typical Damon fashion, he went straight for the liquor cart and poured himself a glass of Bourbon chugging it down instantly.

"Damon," Elena sighed, tucking pieces of hair behind her ear and sitting down on the couch. "What's wrong with you? You've been acting weird since the motel Talk to me."

"It's nothing, Elena. Don't worry about it. I just need some peace and quiet." Damon snapped, pouring more liquor into his cup.

Her sigh was of a softly deflating; it was as if a tension had lifted yet left her with a melancholy instead of relief like she was hoping.

"Damon, please don't do this. Don't shut me out. If you're angry then talk to me. Telling me to go away won't do anything for you or me."

"I didn't tell you to go away, I just said I wanted quiet. But, now I'm telling you to go away. We can go back to our regularly scheduled drama tomorrow. For now, I want to be alone."

"Fine." She stood. "Go and have your pity party and self-loathing attitude, Damon. I just wanted you to know that I haven't changed my mind."

Elena turned her back, ready to leave and come back tomorrow and fix whatever he was abutting to cause when he suddenly appeared in front of her, a gasp escaping her lips.

"This isn't about a pity party, Elena. It's about the fact that I already know what's going to happen between..." He waved his hand between them. "Whatever this is."

"Then what is it about Damon? Enlighten me."

He squinted his eyes. "I can tell you how this is gonna go, but I'm begging you to prove me wrong. First, we'll flirt and get close, then the closeness will trigger a panic in you, that you won't be able to control and as per usual you'll get scared and run. Maybe back to my brother. You'll retreat. And I'll be careful not to cause damage because I have at least learnt that much. Then, when the fear of being hurt all over again has passed you'll come back to me, warm and affectionate, feeling guilty, feeling worried that you've lost me. It will look like 'fire and ice,' or 'push and pull,' but in truth it is an emotional wave that is painful and internal to me that I don't know if I'll be able to handle again. I'm honestly sick of it. Let's just hope we don't crash and burn in a ball of hell. So, throw a penny in a well, my love, and make a wish; I already did the same."

Elena opened her mouth to respond, her face full of shock but was abruptly cut off when Damon continued.

"So, if you're ready, then we can try. But, if you're not, tell me. At least then I'll be able to somewhat attempt to prepare for what going to come next."

The silence was a poison to them, for in that void of sound the shallowness of their conversation was laid bare. Kinetic and winnowing, hearts flutter at the oppression such a violence rings through the caverns of ears. Souls cry for help and irises sing for mercy as if such a sound could not be more brutally deafening.

Her hands raised up from her sides and curled around his neck, pulling him closer to her until she stopped when their lips were inches apart.

Damon's eyes were curious for her next move but darkened in contrast at how sexy she looked being assertive.

She licked her lips and leaned in slowly, like a tease. He had expected she was about to kiss him but growled internally when she lightly grazed over them and instead leaned in closer to his ear.

"I'm ready, Damon. For everything."

Huge thanks to my beta; Salvatoreboys4ever. "Bottom of the Ocean" was updated a few days ago. Bye. Love you all. Tumblr; keatien