Title: Miles To Home

Summary: For Elena Gilbert life couldn't be more perfect. She has the perfect life, perfect boyfriend, and headed towards the perfect dream job. Everything is going, well, perfectly. There's just one catch… her twin sister Katherine. When Katherine disrupts Elena's perfect life, she runs away to New York. It was the perfect plan… until she has to return home and face everything she ran away from; including her ex-boyfriend Damon. Based off the amazing trailer of the same name by the extremely talented minds and video editing talents of ElePatro (noralsel) and Caro (_LightToMyDark).

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. No profit is being made from this work.

Damon is still sound asleep when I make my way out of the hotel room. I don't miss the way he's smiling in his sleep, clutching a pillow as I quietly close the door and leave him. My head is still throbbing from the night before and in an effort not to wake him or make my own headache worse, I chose not to use the blow dryer and instead chose to leave my hair to its devices. It's falling in waves and is still damp as I turn around and collapse against the door in the vacant hallway.

I don't know how last night happened; whether to blame the alcohol or my own mind. It has me all kinds of confused and I don't even want to imagine the awkwardness it will bring when Damon does wake up and joins us for breakfast before he drives us all back home. With one last calming breath to remind myself to relax, I push myself off the door and gather up my courage to put on a brave face and forget what happen last night. Cause if I let myself think about it than Caroline will be able to read it right off my face.

And I don't need her trying to figure out my feelings when I'm not sure of them myself.

So, instead of facing it I make my way over to the same terrace we were on last night and spy Caroline and Stefan cuddled in a corner table overlooking the vineyard. I tap on Caroline's shoulder before I sit down and she beams at me as I smooth out my dress and take a seat at the bench across from them and look out at the sky with them.

"So how was your night?" she asks.

Momentarily panic sets in; as if Caroline can read everything that happened clearly on my face. But it settles when I notice she's staring at Stefan completely lost in her own bubble to notice the turmoil going on in mine. "It's was good. Slept better than I have in weeks."

And it's the truth. Something about unloading my fears on Damon and him sharing my bed put me at ease. For the first night I wasn't plagued by nightmares and restless sleep. It was only when I did wake up and see Damon in my bed, his face inches from my mine, his hand grasping my own that reality hit me hard. This is the very thing I was afraid of. The very thing I warned Elijah could happen. I was falling back into the ease of being with Damon.

And that just couldn't happen.

As cups of coffee and a breakfast assortment of fresh fruit are brought to the table, I notice Damon approaching the table. He's dressed in faded jeans and burgundy tee paired with a leather jacket and his eyes intent on mine. His preppy-dressed-up look from earlier is gone, replaced with the everyday look of the bad boy I once knew. When our eyes finally meet, my own snap back to my plate and I take a sip of my coffee.

"Mornin'," Damon says and I notice a skip to his step before he slides into the seat beside mine. As if on habit, his arm rests on the back of my chair and I find myself inching away from him. I don't know what could possibly be going on in his head right now. We're not together. I didn't make some grand confession of my feelings for him. We just talked and fell asleep. Yet here he is making it all into something more.

And letting Caroline in on it all.

She looks at both of us oddly before saying, "Did something happen last night?"

Damon moves to speak, but I cut him off with a quick: "Nope. Nothing."

It doesn't look like she believes me and I can feel Damon's eyes on mine as he removes his arm from the back of my chair, but thankfully neither of them say a word. We sit there in uncomfortable silence amidst this beautiful place and the quiet conversations going around us until finally it breaks.

Stefan becomes my saving grace because he quietly finishes up his meal and says, "Ready to head home?"

I wipe my mouth with my cloth and gather my things as everyone else does the same. This ride home is going to be awkward enough and I just want it over with. As we're making our way off the terrace and towards where valet has already brought Damon's Camaro and the bellhop has brought over our bags, I feel Damon reach for my arm and pull me towards him.

My eyes quickly look towards Caroline and Stefan who are helping organize the bags and seem oblivious to Damon and myself. Still, I whisper harshly, "Damon, what are you doing? Let go of me."

"You want to forget it happened, fine. But I can't!"

I pull my arm free and take a step back. "Nothing happened, Damon."

And it's true. Nothing happened. We didn't kiss. We didn't talk about our relationship. Nothing crossed any kind of boundary that I should feel guilty about betraying Elijah about.

No… I just confessed my biggest fear to my ex-boyfriend and asked him to stay in my bed.

Ugh. My life is a mess.

Damon's furious as he stares at me. "Why did you ask me to stay?"

I balk at him. "What?"

He enunciates each word with cruelty as he repeats his question back at me. "Why did you ask me to stay, Elena?"

"I was drunk," I stutter. "I had a lot on my mind."

"You're a liar," he spits out. And I can feel the hatred and anger rolling off of him. That skip in his step earlier and that smile I saw as I left my room is long gone. He's hurt and confused and frustrated at me and it's all coming out. "There's something going on between us and you know it. And you're lying to me. And you're lying to Elijah. And most of all you're lying to yourself."

"Nothing happened, Damon." And when I say this I meet his eyes with conviction I know I don't have. Because he's right. It's all a lie. Something did happen. I asked him to stay. I opened up to him. I would've kissed him if he hadn't stopped me.

He stares at me in disbelief before he straightens up and starts to walk past me. As he retreats, he says, "Keep telling yourself that."

And then he makes his way towards his car and slides in and I cautiously make my way after him. With Caroline and Stefan blissfully unaware in the backseat, I sit beside him, my eyes intent out the window as we leave Early Morning Vineyards behind.

"Are you sure this is going to work?"

I give a small smile to my sister as we sit in the backyard of her new condo. It's surrounded by trees and foliage and yet the afternoon sunlight peeks through finding its way despite all the obstacles. Thanks to Elijah, Katherine has been able to put the money she's been putting towards lawyer fees towards a new place for her and Nadia to live. It's a two-bedroom, two-bath modest condo in a better part of town near a park and a day care.

It's all a much better living arrangement to help push Katherine's argument that she deserves to have custody of her daughter. And even with everything happening so fast, Katherine has been rolling with all of it and doing everything that Elijah and I have asked of her. Not that I ever doubted she couldn't. She just needed someone to push her in the right direction.

Hesitantly, I squeeze her hand. "It's going to work. Child Services is going to visit and see how much your quality of living has improved and Elijah promised this lawyer is the best in Family Law. He read over your file and Klaus' argument and he's got a game plan all figured out. This is all of his recommendations."

"But how am I going to afford all of this?"

She falls back against the Adirondack chair with her hands covering her face. "Don't worry about the lawyer. He's doing it as a favor for Elijah. And this is within what you can afford, Katherine. We went over your expenses and I told you how to allocate your funds. Everything is going to be fine."

Katherine sighs, moving her hands to her lap as she looks at me. "I just can't believe I own this."

I smile at her. "It's yours and it's a home you can be proud of, where you feel safe."

"Where Nadia is safe," she adds.

"Exactly."

I just wish my parents would see all of this. See how far Katherine has been able to come with just a little support from her family. When I tried to explain everything to them they just wouldn't hear it. They refused to acknowledge Katherine or the granddaughter they now have and when I got on them about how they could've easily helped her the way I've been we got in another one of our fights. Something that has been happening more and more lately as I pull away from them and rebuild the shaky relationship I have with my sister.

The separation from my parents hold and the fact that I am standing on my own two feet has taught me more about myself than I ever could've learned being the dutiful daughter everyone always claimed me to be. I thought being in New York and building a life there was me discovering myself but it has taken returning home and my eyes becoming open to everything I hid from to make that happen. It took letting myself open up to Katherine and forgive her, to challenge my parents when I knew they were wrong to finally figure out what I want out of life.

Despite not wanting to fully understand what happen in that hotel room with Damon; his words have struck a chord with me. I've been constantly trying to figure out what I want instead of relying on the path laid out for me. Is medicine really what I want to be doing? Or do I have some other career that I'll be passionate about? And that thought and my defensiveness for my sister hasn't exactly sat well with Mom and Dad.

I feel Katherine reach out to me and my eyes slowly slide towards hers and I find her face full of apprehension and close to tears. "I really can't thank you enough for all you've done for me, Elena."

Now fighting back my own tears, I reply, "It's what sisters do."

Katherine frowns. "I haven't exactly been sister of the year."

"Neither have I," I say, giving her an encouraging smile. It's true. We've both had our faults from how things turned out. "I should've realized what was going on."

But Katherine shakes her head. "You couldn't have known. You just wanted what every kid wants: to please their parents. And you were everything they wanted in a daughter and I was jealous of that. So, instead of just taking it out on them, I blamed you, too."

"We were kids, Kat. And I played a part in it, too. I should've reached out and known they were making you feel like that. We're twins. Where was that connection we're supposed to have?"

I can see a tear rolling down her cheek as she quietly says, "I've been jealous of you my whole life. You were Daddy's little girl—following in his footsteps, becoming the doctor he always wanted to be—and everyone loved you and I guess I just fell by the wayside. And it caused me to do some horrible, horrible things to you. And I'm so sorry, Elena. I'm so sorry."

Standing from my chair, I kneel in front of her and give her the first hug we've shared since we were little. I feel her collapse in my arms, fulling crying and clinging to me like I'm the only thing holding her together. My own tears are sliding freely down my face as my sister and I share our first emotional connection ever.

"I'm sorry, Kat. I'm so sorry."

We embrace like that for a long time, just trying to keep each other together. It feels amazing to have something good come from this trip despite everything else in my life falling apart. I may not know what I'm doing with my future or how I feel about what happened with Damon or even what to do with my parents, but I've managed to finally bridge the gap with my sister. And I'm thankful for that.

When she finally pulls back, she places her hands on my shoulders and stares into my eyes. Before she even speaks, I feel the weight of what she's about to say and the meaning behind it. "I know we have a lot of time to make up for and we'll never have the kind of relationship we should, but I want to try, Elena. I want to be the sisters we always should've been."

I cradle her face in my hands and meaningfully say back, "I want to try, too."

And amidst our tears, we smile. Smiles full of hope for the future and what it will bring. We still have a lot more to conquer in our relationship but we're finally taking the steps to mend it. We won't get back the years we lost but we can make sure we don't lose any of the future.

I pull up to Giuseppe Salvatore's massive home and sit in the driveway for a moment to gather my thoughts. I already spy the Camaro and Stefan's Porsche and I know I'm running late but I still need these few moments to ready myself to see Damon. We haven't seen or spoken to each other since we left the vineyard. I've been doing most of the wedding planning either with Caroline or by myself and I know Damon has been getting things ready with his brother. Tonight is not going to be easy but with this place being Wedding Central and Caroline calling together a meeting, I don't really have a choice. I just have to do this.

With an expel of breath, I exit the car with my arms full of different colored balloons and place cards and markers and all kinds of wedding prep. I have half of the mall shoved into boxes and bags but it's everything Caroline needed for tonight to make some final decisions and get started on party favors and some final details.

When I reach the front door I hit the doorbell with my elbow and try to rest most of the weight of what's in my arms against the brick entryway. The door swings open and because that's just my luck it's Damon who answers the door.

"Here let me get that," he says as he takes some of the bags from my arms and leaves me with just two boxes and the balloons.

Awkwardly, I follow him inside, kicking the door shut. "Thanks."

As we make our way to the formal dining room, I see papers and poster board everywhere with center pieces and place settings all over the large oak table. Stefan and Caroline are standing with their backs to us as we walk in, looking over what appears to be their seating chart and moving various pins around the corkboard. At the sound of Damon and I placing the stuff I brought on the table, they turn around and I see Caroline give me a relieved smile as her shoulders sag.

"Oh, finally! You're here!"

I smile, walking towards them both to hug them. "Wedding stress finally getting to you?"

"I don't know why I thought it was a good idea to move right as I was planning a wedding."

Stefan kisses her cheek just as I step back. "That's why we moved everything here."

"I know," she sighs. "It's just so overwhelming and I have half a mind to just let people sit where they want. Why do I have to decide who sits where?"

Grabbing the pins from her hand, I approach the board. "Just tell me who can't sit next to who and I'll handle it."

"You're a godsend, Elena."

She gives me a little hug as I say, "What are MOH's for?"

Caroline gives me the do's and don'ts of the seating chart and leaves me to it while she goes over the things I brought and gets to work on letting the boys handle bagging the party favors: some limoncello home-made from the bar with a little thank you note. Each note has to be attacked individually so Damon and Stefan certainly have their work cut out for them. Caroline gets started on writing out their Love Story board with chalk as well as piecing together the guest book.

It isn't long before I've worked out the seating chart with Caroline and Stefan's approval and get started writing out the place cards. There's light conversation but mostly we're all focused on what we're working on and listening to the wedding playlist Caroline has playing from her iPod with song samples she plans on giving the DJ.

Every once in a while I catch myself sneaking a look at Damon but he seems too absorbed in what he's doing to notice. Then a familiar song plays and this time his eyes flick up towards mine and I can tell he's thinking the same thing I am. Thinking about the moment we first danced and how this song played in the background.

"Ah!" Caroline squeals, dancing in her chair. "I love Ed Sheeran."

At the sound of my best friends voice, the moment is broken and we break contact, returning to our work. In the background, Caroline and Stefan are debating over what song will be their first dance—the song that played when they first met or the one that most relates to them. But my head is swirling. I can feel the distance between me and Damon and it's like I'm reliving that drive away from Mystic Falls all over again when I had to put him out of my mind and figure out my life without him.

"Elena, do you have the photos for the table markers?" I hear Stefan ask as he starts riffling through some of the things I brought.

I stand up and start searching through the bags—not finding any sign of them. "They must be in the car. Be right back."

Quickly, I hop out of my seat and make my way through to the front door. I hurry to my car and check the backseat and spy a folder full of the table markers that I had printed with each table number having an accompanying photo of Stefan and Caroline at that age. With them safely in my hand, I lock my car and make my way back inside. On the way in a nearly trip over Damon and he has to grab hold of me to stop my from falling.

"Sorry. Thanks," I mutter all flailing limbs and awkwardness. I hate this place we seem to be in. It's almost better than that anxious place we were in when I hadn't seen him in years. Now there is just this anger rolling off of him and me unsure of where I stand. And it sucks because it seemed like we were reaching a nice place there for a little while—a place between exes and friends. Now I don't know what we are.

He firmly places me away from him and states, "Just watch where you're going."

I don't know if it's because of this change I feel inside of me or because I just can't take his harshness towards me anymore but I simply lose it. "What is your problem?"

Damon's eyes widen, his eyebrows nearly jumping to his hairline. "What's my problem? Are you serious?"

"Yes," I say, arms folding over my chest.

He shakes his head. "I'm not getting into this with you now, Elena."

Without another word, he makes his way towards the library and for some reason I place the folder down and follow him, my hard steps echoing in the otherwise quiet house. We're far enough from the kitchen that Caroline and Stefan can't hear us but then again I don't quite know just how loud this is going to get.

"We're getting into this now, Damon. I don't get what your problem is."

His hands are resting on the back of the leather couch in the center of the library. I can see the tension in his shoulder and jaw. "You. You're my problem."

"Just because I said nothing happened at the hotel? Damon, nothing happened. I was drunk. I had some things I needed to get off my chest and you were there. No big deal."

Damon turns towards me and I see the fire in his eyes, the frustration as he gestures. "So you would've just bared your soul to anyone? Any unlucky guy to stumble into your room? Would you have invited them into your bed, too?"

"Stop it, Damon," I say, backing up against the shelf behind me.

"No! Because you're full of shit, Elena. You opened up because it was me. Because you trust me. Because once upon a time I was the person you told everything to."

"Yeah, and then you almost kissed my sister!"

I don't know where the words come from but they spit from my mouth with all the raging fire burning up inside of me. I'm so angry and it's suddenly like I'm back at Mason Lockwoods house witnessing my sister and Damon about to kiss. It's like no time has passed and in a way it hasn't. Because I never faced it. I just held on to the anger and let it reach a fever pitch until it could finally all spill out.

And it seems like that moment is going to be now.

He studies me for a moment. "Finally!"

I step towards him. "What? You want to finally have this conversation? You want me to blame you? Easy. Done. You screwed up, Damon!"

"Thank you!" he yells.

"You ruined us, Damon. All I wanted was for you to open up to me and you couldn't! You ran to my sister!"

"I know!"

I can feel the hot tears brimming along my lids, fighting to crash over but I stop them by using my anger to keep them at bay. We haven't talked about this since I left him on Mason's porch and I haven't faced it since that moment. Even when he showed up at my hotel that first time I saw him we brushed over the issue. Neither one of us wanted to have this argument.

And yet we're having it now.

My hands run through my hair as I stare at him. "You broke us, Damon!"

Part of me—a small part—knows I should've be talking about this. I'm in a committed relationship with someone else. Someone who loves me and hasn't hurt me the way Damon has. Yet that small part of me also realizes in this moment that I haven't felt as much passion in that relationship as I am right now in this moment.

"I know," he says more quietly, more somber. It's enough to make me have to turn away from the pain in his eyes. "I ran to Katherine and you just ran away. You're always running away."

I quickly turn back towards him. "Because you sent me away."

"Because you wouldn't have understood, Elena! I was so messed up back then. I didn't live up to my father's expectations and now in comes this new son who is smart and successful and everything I wasn't. Don't you get it? I was the Katherine to Stefan's Elena. She was the only one who could understand."

"So you thought she could be my stand-in? That you could have with her the moment you should've had with me?"

He turns back towards the couch, leaning over it and I see his hands white knuckle the leather. "I didn't think."

"And that's the problem," I say, backing away from him when in reality all I want is to reach for him. "You never think."

He sighs. "This has to end. I can't keep doing this to myself. I have to move on."

And those words halt me in my tracks. I can't even speak. The idea of Damon being with someone else absolutely shatters me. I can't handle the thought. And what kind of hypocrite does that make me? I'm with someone else. Committed to someone else. And yet the idea of Damon moving on has me feeling betrayed.

"We'll get through this wedding together and then it's over, Elena. You won't have to worry about me anymore. You can go and be happy with Elijah in New York."

He pushes himself off the couch as he says this and breezes past me, leaving me with only his words to keep me company. And that's when I finally break.