"Here we go..." Damon opens the door. He takes Elena's hand and leads her inside to have a seat. He pulls a tiny glass ladybug out of his pocket and places it in her hand.

Elena grazes her fingertips over the slightly bumpy surface. "Why did you keep it?"

"Because I forgot I had it!" Damon tells her honestly. "Even though you ripped my heart out of my chest, I haven't even looked at another girl."

Elena swallows slightly, her breathing haggard. A tear stain occupies her left cheek, sending Damon to close the distance between them. He lifts his hand and brushes the tear away with his thumb.

Elena leans into his touch and takes a deep breath, her head down.

"I'm sorry, Damon. I can't even tell you how much. I guess I got caught up in the hype and then you said you couldn't come to see me...Kol was there and kissed me, it just happened. I really wasn't even aware of it until I saw you staring at me. I was angry when you left and figured you'd never forgive me for what I said so I did go out with him a couple of times...it was nothing serious, not on my part anyway..."

"Thank you for saying that but it's not entirely your fault," Damon concedes. "I told your dad that I wanted to hurt you the way you hurt me. He said I abandoned college, hockey, and now you...he wasn't wrong. I have been aimless; you know that all too well. And," he takes Elena's hand and brings it to his lips, pressing his lips against it. "I shouldn't have waited so long to come to you...I'm sorry for my part."

"What are we going to do now?"

"I need to decide what to do with my life and soon...But no matter which way I look, I always see you, Elena. I'm not gonna jeopardize what we have ever again."

"What do we have?" Elena whispers, a hint of a smile on her mouth.

Damon offers a small smile as he rests his hands on her shoulders.

"Something…" he breathes. "We have something…something really special."

"We do have something special," Elena agrees, swallowing back another lump of tears.

Damon gently presses his lips onto hers. Tasting the salt on her lips, he lightly brushes his tongue against them.

"For as long as I can remember, I've been crazy about you, Elena," Damon admits, his voice barely a whisper.

Elena smiles and wraps her arms around his neck to pull him closer for a deeper, longer kiss.

When they pull apart, they are both breathless, Damon's gaze is intent on Elena.

"You are my life."

"And you are mine," Elena whispers and kisses him again.

Damon makes the turn into the driveway and pulls the car to a halt in front of Elena's house. "We're here."

Elena leans over blindly to give Damon a swift kiss on the cheek. Just as she is about to turn her body back to the door, her fingers are on the handle but the hand on her shoulder makes her pause and turn around.

Damon leans forward and brushes his lips against hers. Elena lets out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding as she raises her hand to cup his cheek.

Damon runs his tongue over her bottom lip. Soon enough, they are making out passionately. His hands tangle in Elena's brown hair while hers are exploring his chest, a few buttons down on his shirt.

Her heart is racing as she tears her mouth away.

"I…should…go…" Elena says breathlessly in between kisses.

Damon smirks against her lips before moving to her jawline and collarbone. "Dad is probably looking out the window."

Damon pauses to look up. The porch light is on but no curtains are peeled back.

"I should…should…" she stammers, leaving Damon to take advantage and silence her with another kiss.

Elena pulls back, her hand flying to her chest in a feeble attempt to steady her heartbeat.

Damon leans in once more to kiss her, this time the kiss is slow and deliberate. When he releases her lips, he steps outside to open the door for her.

Walking hand in hand to the front door, Damon opens it quietly and once she's safely inside, he tells her goodnight.

Elena gives him a wide smile before kissing his cheek and closing the door behind him.

Elena carefully walks down the stairs and feels her way around to the front door. "You're here," she says breathlessly as a wide smile flashes across her face.

"I wouldn't miss it," Damon admits quietly as he steps inside and kisses Elena on the cheek – making her heart beat wildly.

Elena smiles as she leans in further, eager to feel his lips against hers but is thwarted by an awkward cough. She immediately turns her gaze knowing it's her father.

"Come on, supper's ready," John announces with a shake of his head.

"I don't know where you come up with those harebrained ideas!" John takes a swallow of his beer.

"She can do it, John. It's five months until the first competition. That's plenty of time," Damon states firmly as he sets his glass down.

"I don't care about any of that, Damon," Elena interjects.

"Yeah, you do... If you could see you'd be right back in there, with that whole business."

"I wouldn't!" she contends.

"I don't believe you," Damon counters.

Elena shakes her head back and forth. "I can't!" Her heart flutters in her chest as she takes another sip of water in an attempt to calm her nerves.

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to," John reassures her.

"If nobody made her do anything she'd still be sitting up in that room staring blindly at the walls," Damon pauses for a moment and takes her hand in his.

"I don't know if she can do it. I just know she's got to try."

"For who? For you or for her?" Sheila asks, locking eyes with Damon.

"For both of us," Damon answers solemnly and turns his gaze to Elena. "If she doesn't try it's going to be second best for us. Whatever it is. She can skate. I don't know who took that seriously in the first place, even Elena, but she can. She just won the sectionals. That's all skaters in the middle of the country. That's saying something."

"It's pointless and cruel," John counters and pops another beer can.

Don't give me that!" Damon pounds his fist on the table. "Not trying is pointless and cruel. Not trying is wondering your whole life if you gave up too soon. Who the hell needs that?" He pauses, meeting John's stare and knowing he's talking about himself, too.

"They'll laugh at me."

Damon takes Elena's hand. "They might," he admits truthfully.

"Well, they can't know I can't see, otherwise they'll just feel sorry for me.

"That's going to be harder," Sheila remarks as she takes a swallow from her beer bottle.

"They can't know!"

"Okay," Damon agrees as he brings her hand to his lips and kisses it.

"Dad?"

"The kid's never seemed too smart," John shifts his gaze to Damon and then to Elena. "But Damon's right about this."

"But you have to try because if you haven't tried, you haven't lived," Elena remarks quoting one of her favorite movies. "I may make a fool of myself," she adds and squeezes Damon's hand. "And I can live with that as long as I know I tried."

John pounds his fist on the table. "You'll always have my support, Elena. I love you."

They're all piled into John's Expedition for the drive to Cedar Rapids for the competition. It's not scheduled until the end of the week but they want Elena to have some time to familiarize herself with the ice.

"Great moments are born from great opportunity. And that's what you have, Elena. That's what you've earned," Damon states with conviction as he takes his turn behind the wheel. "This won't be easy but I have faith in you, Elena. You can do this."

"I don't want to disappoint you."

"You'll never disappoint me, ever." Damon reaches over to squeeze Elena's hand.

"We have the fastest blade-changing time of any pit crew on the circuit. Call-out distances, the wall's louder," John chortles from the back seat and stuffs a potato chip into his mouth.

"You guys are crazy. You're all crazy!" Elena is laughing so hard that she's almost in tears.

"Lucky for you, I'd say." Damon winks at her.

"100 bottles of beer on the wall, 100 bottles of beer," John counters in song as he reaches from the backseat to give Elena's shoulder a quick squeeze.

"What have I gotten myself into?" Sheila roars with laughter as they continue down the highway.

"Why does it seem bigger than when we were here last time?" Sheila remarks as they look over the arena.

"Just wait till it's full!" Damon gives Elena a hug and kisses her hair.

"I just talked to the manager. $25 a night three nights a week, before the preliminaries. Any time we want as long as it's between 1:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m.," John informs them.

"That's great. That's plenty of time," Sheila comments happily.

Damon nods. "Okay. I'd say the tunnel is 15 feet wide. There are about 30 feet, and 35 feet open to the ice. Let's cover this up." He points down at the floor.

John nods. "I'll get some adhesive tape down there to mark it for you."

"Ready?" Damon rests her hands on her shoulders and starts kneading her skin.

"Yeah, I guess so." Elena bobs her head up and down.

"Without your skates?" Sheila comments drolly.

"Between all of you, you think of everything, don't you?"

"We try, sweetheart," John gives her a hug and releases her to Damon's waiting arms.

They leave the arena to go back to their hotel for the night.

It's been a challenging and busy week for all of them. With only a few minutes left in tonight's allotted time, Sheila takes Elena by the arm.

"Alright, let's run it once more before we wrap up for the night. You know the steps; you've marked it solidly every time. I want to see it like you're stepping out in front of a crowd."

"Okay," Elena answers, rolling her neck and blowing out a long breath, already mentally preparing herself. She reaches into her pocket for a moment and squeezes Damon's ladybug.

"Here." Damon takes her hand and passes her a water bottle. She takes a long swill before handing it back to him.

"Off you go," he says and presses a kiss to her forehead.

Elena circles closer to the center, pausing for a moment to give herself a mental pep talk before pointing her toe out to the side and placing her hands in their starting position.

The music begins and she works her way through the introduction. Heading into her crossovers, Elena takes a deep breath before launching into a triple Lutz, two-footing the landing.

She considers the last several days with Damon by her side through every step of this grueling process.

"That's it. Time it in your head from the corner to the blue line.

Okay, now, one, two, three, blue line, blue line!"

She shakes out of her musings at the sound of Damon's voice.

"Elena. Relax, baby. Become one with the ice. You can do this."

"Okay," Elena agrees and starts to prepare for her next jump.

"You can do this, Elena. You're a natural!" Bonnie calls out as she claps her hands.

With her timing off, she loses her balance and falls. An instant after hitting her hip on the ice, she is back up again and attempting to brush it on and continue.

"Time out," Damon calls aloud and approaches her. He rubs his palms up and down her arms. "Get out of your head! Just let it flow naturally."

Elena nods and blows out a weighted breath as she prepares for the next jump. She tells herself not to think, just do. This time, her triple is clean, and perfectly rotated with a strong landing.

"That's it, sweetheart!" comes her Dad's voice of encouragement.

Having gained some confidence, Elena continues through the remaining three minutes of her program without a stumble. Her jumps are solid, and her footwork is swift and defined. As she takes off in the spiral sequence, she feels like Jack and Rose standing at Titanic's bow. "I'm flying," she whispers to herself.

And then Elena steps into her final element, a combination of spins.

"Finish strong here in the spin," Sheila calls aloud.

Elena throws herself into it, trying her hardest to end on a high note after a less-than-stellar beginning.

"Stick your landing and you're done," Damon tells her, nervously clenching his fist.

Elena comes out of her spin, lowering her leg to plant firmly on the ice and strike her final pose.

She doesn't even have time to catch her breath before she feels herself spinning in the air with Damon's arms around her.

Thank you all so much.

Love you, Eva.

I was going to update TQR but I was in the mood for this one. TQR has double-digit chapters left and this story is on the wind down. I may put TQR on a one-week hiatus and update this and IACBTM next week and return to TQR the following week. Thoughts?

Elena's movie quote is: To make the journey and not fall deeply in love, well, you haven't lived a life at all. But you have to try because if you haven't tried, you haven't lived." ~ Spoken by Anthony Hopkins in Meet Joe Black.

Have a fun and beautiful weekend.