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.

A/N: Brownie points to any of you who can name the TV show that I quoted in this chapter…Besides TVD obviously ;)….

Damon's POV…

I'm actually giddy.

I'm in my late twenties, own more leather jackets than I should, curse like a sailor, have done some pretty shady shit in my past, and swallow bourbon like it's water but I'm wearing a huge goofy smile on my face. Couple that with the spring in my step that can only be the result of one thing: Elena Gilbert is in love with me. And it's the greatest fucking thing I've ever heard.

Last night with the rain and the tension and all of the overwhelming emotions caused an emotional rollercoaster I'd be more than happy to ride over and over again. From fighting with her to making love to her, it was all enough to give me whiplash. And even though I hate the timing of it with every fiber of my being, I can't regret it. Because being with Elena—showing her just how in love with her I am—isn't something I could regret. Ever.

And knowing she loves me, too? Kissed me back? Didn't let go of me until she had to get inside? That's just the icing on the fucking chocolate cake.

I'm standing in the shower, washing off and I just can't keep this smile off my face. Even as the doorbell rings and I wrap a towel around my waist and practically skip my way to the door, it's still plastered firmly on. But when I open the door I see the face I want to see but it isn't the person I want it to be.

"Katherine?"

She pushes her way inside and I watch as she saunters over to the couch and lays on it upside down, dumping the contents of some form of snack into her mouth. "Well, how did it all go?"

"Hello, Katherine. Good afternoon. Oh, you want to come inside and rehash some plans? Sure, come on in," I mock as Katherine once again makes herself at home in my place.

I tighten up the hold on my towel to make sure I don't give her a peek of the goods as make my way over to my bedroom to quickly get dressed. I can hear her rambling through the door as I slide on a pair of jeans and a grey tee and towel dry my hair.

"Come on, Damon. Share! I'm dying to know if it all worked. Last thing I heard was you were following through on the whole 'make Elena imagine life without you' and then you ran out of the bar to pick her up at some club an hour away."

When I step out of my room, Katherine is waiting in front of it—arms crossed over her chest and a lifted brow over her wide eyes still waiting for me to finish the story. I hated playing Elena the way I did by pushing her to realize things when she wasn't ready but there was no other way around it. And it wasn't like I was completely faking what I told her in my father's home. I meant every word of it. If she got engaged to Elijah that would be the kick in the ass I needed to finally realize that as strong as my feelings for her are, she's just too afraid to handle them.

I just conveyed my anger over the whole situation a little prematurely.

And it worked.

But I had never anticipated how well. And I have a feeling Kat won't be too happy about that whole development.

I push past her and make both of us some coffee. Behind me I hear the slide of a chair and know that Katherine has taken a seat at the island. "Well?"

With a sigh, I turn around and brace my arms against the counter right in front of the coffee pot which is currently brewing. I want to change the subject because the last person I want to have this conversation with is Elena's twin sister. Yet here we are.

"It went okay," I say, but try as hard as I can I can't stop the smile that tugs on my lips.

"Your shit-eating-grin says otherwise."

I take a breath. "We fought. She confessed that she loved me. Then we did it in the back of the Camaro. See? No biggie."

Katherine's mouth drops and then she snaps it shut and narrows her eyes at me. "You weren't supposed to sleep with her, Damon!"

I shrug. "I couldn't help it! I got all caught up in the moment."

She just shakes her head as the coffee pot beeps and I turn around and pour us each a cup. Unfortunately she likes it black just like I do so I can't avoid her gaze like I want to by doing other things. Instead I push her cup towards her and ease back against my counter waiting for her to lay it into me.

"Damon, you know my sister. This is going to send her right back into Elijah's arms. The guilt over cheating on her boyfriend with you is just going to push the two of you further apart."

I shake my head. "It wasn't like that, Kat. I kept waiting for that moment for her to close up but she clung to me the entire time. She didn't want me to go. If we both weren't filthy and exhausted she would've invited me up and we would've figured it all out."

"Until reality hit her and she sent you away!" Kat yells. "It just didn't hit her when she was with you. Has she even texted you, Damon?"

I've been so focused on everything I'm feeling that I never thought to check my phone. I walk over to where my phone is resting and press the button revealing several messages from Caroline and Stefan about the upcoming rehearsal but not a single message from Elena. Maybe Katherine is right. Maybe I really did screw this all up.

But seeing her all passionate and yelling that she loves me was just too much for me to handle.

Can you really blame a guy? Elena Gilbert being passionate about her feelings for me is my Achilles heel.

"No messages."

"I told you."

Frowning, I put my phone back on the table and place both my arms on the back of my leather couch. That giddy smile on my face is long gone as the implications of what Katherine is saying hit me like a slap across the face. Elena is going to do what she's good at and run. She's going to stick with what's good and not with someone who makes her push aside her morals. I've screwed this whole thing up for all of us.

"What can we do to fix it?" I whisper because I'm at a loss. If only I had dragged Katherine with me last night maybe all of this could've been avoided. But then again I never would've had last night.

Before Katherine can even get a word out there's a knock on the door and we both turn towards the door. For some reason Kat takes it upon herself to breeze on over towards the door and swing it open. I can only imagine the shock on her face when she comes face to face with her sister.

So much for running away.

"Kat? What are you doing here?" Elena's eyes flick over towards my face. "With Damon?"

I have to laugh at the clear jealousy in her gaze. The idea that I could ever spend a night like I did with Elena and finish it off with Kat is laughable. But I know that there is evidence for her jealousy. She's caught the two of us in compromising positions before.

But that's never happening again.

"I was begging him to come to my appeal," Kat lies easily. And I nod along like we weren't just talking about Elena seconds before she appeared. "I could use all the help I can get."

Elena studies both of us for a minute before she seems to accept it. "The more people you have to prove just how far you've come the better. You should definitely be there, Damon. Not just as her boss but her friend."

"And I shall," I say. And I mean it. If Katherine has an appeal coming up I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure Klaus doesn't beat her again. No kid deserves to grow up without a mother. I should know.

Katherine nods and slides past her sister. "It's settled then," she smiles. "Now that my work here is done. I'll see you both at the Grille later on, yes?"

"Yeah, Caroline wants us all to meet there."

"Okay." Katherine gives a little wave of her hand. "Bye!"

And as she appears behind Elena she mouths at me to fix things before disappearing. Then it's just Elena and I alone and silent. Awkward.

"Are you going to stand in the doorway or did you actually want to come inside?"

"Oh!" she says, stepping over the threshold and into my apartment. It's the first time she's been here and I notice the way her eyes take notice of every little thing. My place is definitely a bachelor pad but I wonder if she's imagining our apartment that we were supposed to have—picturing what it would have looked like if things had worked out between us.

She's just standing there, taking everything in and being quiet as a mouse until finally her eyes land on mine. "Hi."

"Hi," I say back and even I can feel the weight of the awkwardness between us. Its thick and making everything hard to swallow; hard to talk and yet we have to. We're a room apart and even as we step towards each other until only the length of one of my tables separates us, it's still too close.

Everything was so easy last night and now we're left with the weight of it. Am I allowed to touch her? Look at her? Hug her? Kiss her like I want? Instead I'm fighting with everything inside of me to stay at this distance so I don't scare her away. I have no idea what's going on in her head or where her mind is at but I can tell she's just as unsure as I am.

No one planned last night but—like I said—I don't' regret it. And I'm hoping like hell that she doesn't either.

Elena gives a little laugh and then awkwardly says. "Can we not do this?"

"We're not doing anything," I quickly say, taking a few steps towards her but still keeping my distance. "We're just standing, clothed…just standing doing nothing."

Elena's eyes glance upward and she bites her lip. Something she always does when she fights against that part of herself that's natural. Something I've always loved watching her do. "I mean the whole," her eyes meet mine and I feel the concern in them, "not sure how to act around each other."

"Oh," I say because I'm just not sure what else to say. This is all going to be awkward until I just know what's going on in that pretty little head of hers. And yet I'm scared as hell to hear it.

"Look," she starts and unknowingly steps towards me, "about last night."

I brace myself for it. Surely if Elena was going to tear my heart out she wouldn't have come here and done it in person. If she was running, she would do just that. I would be dealing with a girl in denial. But instead she's here, in my apartment, bringing it up herself.

"It shouldn't have happened," I blurt out. I watch as her eyes widen as she seems shocked by my words. Quickly, I finish, "At least not then. Not when you're with someone else."

She places her hand on the table beside us and I notice her eyes glance down to the pictures resting on it. There are pictures of me with my father and Stefan, Stefan and me at the grand opening of the Mystic Grille, some shots of me and my friends, but then her eyes land on the frame right in the center and grow wide. It's hard to miss in its silver frame among the wood and nickel ones. I watch as her fingertips dance along the glass and she smiles to herself.

It's a photo of the two of us at prom. One of the last really great moments we had before I found out about Stefan and ruined everything—before she ran. She's in my arms and smiling beautifully and I look the happiest I have ever been. Even though she dragged me to prom and put my name down for the Prom King and I hated every second of it, being with her and seeing her in that beautiful dress and getting to dance and hold her all night made it all worth it.

I remember the photographer begging us to look at the camera but I kept murmuring in her ear everything I wanted to do to her and how beautiful she looked and neither of us could keep our eyes off each other. So, instead of a staged shot the guy captured a wonderful candid of two people in love—two people completely unaware of how quickly things would unravel in the weeks to come.

"You keep this out?" Elena says, staring at me.

I nod. "It's one of my favorites."

Of course she doesn't know about the box of photos under my bed. The silly ones, the serious one, the ones where were kissing or laughing or just being with each other. She had no idea about how I may have tried to move on but try as I might I just couldn't set up this apartment and not have her face among the photos of all the people I love.

Because she's always been one of them. Always will be.

"But what about when you brought girls home? Or girlfriends?"

I shake my head. "That photo doesn't belong in a box, Elena. And you already know why."

She does. I confessed everything to her when I showed up at her hotel room. She knows that no matter how much time has passed those feelings I had haven't gone away. She knows because she feels it too. I know she does.

I watch as she shakes a little with nerves before she finally speaks. "I don't regret last night, Damon. The timing was wrong and it shouldn't have happened but it did and I can't regret it. For some reason the only times I've been honest about how I felt this entire trip was when I was with you."

"You can always be honest with me."

She gives me a sad smile and I can't be sure what she's thinking. "I know that. I know. It's because of you that I made up with my sister. It's because of what you said at the vineyard that I've been able to stand up to my parents and even think about what I want out of life."

"That's good, Elena."

Her hand runs through her hair. "But I just don't know what to do. I know I should have it figured out. I know that it should be easy to know who I want to be with. But I've been with Elijah for a long time and he deserves more than just a phone call saying that we can't be together. I need time to think all of this through and figure out what I want. Figure out who I am. Because it's not this person, Damon. I'm not the girl who cheats on her boyfriend."

And even though my heart is breaking at her words, I'm so fucking proud of her. Because she's thinking for herself and even though I want her to run right into my arms I know that I don't want Elijah to have to go through what I went through. Elena shouldn't run from him either. Even if it means she's running to me.

"Sure, of course. Take all the time you need."

She gives me another one of those sad smiles that melt my insides to mush. "Thank you, Damon. I appreciate it."

Then she gives me a long stare and I stand still as she closes the distance between us and gives me a peck on the cheek. She lingers with her lips pressed against my skin for a few moments before she finally pulls away and with a quiet mumble of goodbye, she walks out of my apartment only stopping to wave before she closes the door.

I'm not sure if this is the last time I'll completely have her in my life. For all I know Elena could choose Elijah and my heart will be shattered once again at her absence. But what I do know is that this time she's not running away. She's choosing whether or not she wants to stay.

Elena's POV...

"You look beautiful, Care!"

I release my best friend and take a moment to admire the above the knee A-line dress she's wearing. It has ribbon and a bow cinched at her waist and it fans out around her hips creating a beautiful silhouette that has her looking like a knockout. I shake my head at her beauty and give a quick kiss to Stefan before he runs off to greet some of his family.

"Look who's talking," she teases, admiring my black lace dress. "Are you trying to drive Damon even more nuts than you already are?"

"Caroline," I warn, looking over my shoulder to where Damon is embracing his brother. Good, he's not close enough to listen in and he seems busy enough talking with Stefan's family to pay any attention to us. "You know how much this is killing me."

She gives me a sympathetic look. "You told Elijah and he said he still wanted a future with you. Damon wants a future with you. You just have to figure out who you see standing by your side while you figure your own future out."

"I'm not sure what I want."

Caroline shakes her head. "Yes, you are."

"I don't, Care. I love Elijah, with all of my heart, but with Damon…I don't know. It's like he'll always have a piece of my soul."

"So, you have to figure out what part of yourself you want to follow; your heart or your soul?"

I give a little shake of my body because I'm just so over monopolizing my best friend's moments. This needs to be about her and not about the little triangle I've worked myself into. I give her a smile and hug her once again. "I really lucked out having you for a best friend."

"You and me both, 'Lena. Who else would help Giuseppe Salvatore throw me this amazing rehearsal dinner?"

We release each other and I laugh thinking about how awkward it had been when Damon and Stefan's father approached me asking for help with planning the rehearsal dinner. He wasn't really one for party planning and didn't have any women in his life to help him and for some reason I was the one he came to. It was strange at first because I had always thought of Damon's father as this brooding, angry, unapproachable man but the years had softened him. And it seemed having both Stefan and Damon in his life helped as well.

He let me take the reins and gave me a budget and I ran with it, knowing my best friend well enough to pick out the decorations she would like. I decided on the Grille because I know it means a lot to Stefan and to Caroline and I just recreated the place into a romantic atmosphere full of photos of the two of them through the years and hundreds of flowers and lights. I transformed the industrial rustic edge of the Grille into rustic elegance and needless to say everyone has been wowed by the transformation.

"I'm sure some poor party planner would've helped," I tease.

Caroline shakes her head. "But they wouldn't know me like you do. Elena, I'm serious. This rivals one of my parties."

"I aim to please," I smile. "Now go greet your guests."

She gives my hand a quick squeeze and disappears into the crowd, rejoining her soon-to-be husband and mingling. My eyes glance over towards Damon and I see him approaching me. My nerves start to build up inside. The hurt on his face when I told him I needed time to figure things out is still burned into my brain. But then again so is the pain in Elijah's voice when I told him I had slept with Damon.

"Hi," he says when he reaches me.

"Hi," I say back.

"Okay," he laughs. "We need to get passed this awkward teenage greeting."

I laugh back, covering my face before I stare into his eyes again. "I agree. It shouldn't be this awkward."

"Nope," he says, prolonging the single syllable.

"And yet it is," I say.

He looks down at his shoes and it gives me a moment to appreciate Damon Salvatore in a suit. He's crisp and freshly shaven and unbelievably sexy and I can't help but notice the eyes that watch him as he talks to me. And it's while I'm looking around the room that I notice my parents walking towards us, followed by someone who I wasn't expecting until early tomorrow morning.

Damon must notice my attention is elsewhere because he follows my gaze and steps back to allow my parents into our space. His eyes shift between my shocked, wide ones and my parents knowing smiles and the man he has yet to meet.

But the man steps forward and extends his hand, every bit the rival to Damon Salvatore in his elegant suit. After all, he practically lives in one. I watch as Damon grasps his hand and the man says, "You must be Damon Salvatore. I don't think we've met. I'm Elijah. Elena's boyfriend."