Elena's POV

I spent the rest of the night with Damon. He didn't leave till the middle of the night. I woke up pretty late the next morning. I was starving. I went downstairs and saw a bunch of bags. I gulped and looked into the downstairs bedroom. I never went into John's room. I peeked inside having flashes filling my mind of waking up my parents on Christmas mornings. I shook it off. I took a deep breath seeing John there sleeping. It was back to reality and I was terrified. This was not going to be easy.

"Elena?" Jeremy said quietly.

I jumped out of my skin. "What the fuck!" I whispered loudly.

"I'm sorry!" He exclaimed.

I softly shut the bedroom door and walked into the living room. "What?" I asked my brother, pissed off.

"Can I borrow some money?" He looked away.

My anger dropped instantly and turned into a mixture of sadness and concern. I could see him shivering. It was scary to see. It always was.

I sighed. "Jere-"

"Please Elena." He pleaded with his sunken dark circles under his eyes.

I nodded my head and gave him some of my birthday money. I didn't want to by any means but I didn't want him to go through withdrawal unsafely. I didn't know what to do but I knew that John being here wasn't exactly a warm way to detox from drugs. I felt so dirty giving him this money. I wasn't one to enable the drug use but I knew he would do whatever it took to get high and I rather it be pills than him shooting up. He took the money and left me there. The guilt was eating me alive.

I had to leave I couldn't be here alone with John. I didn't care if I got in trouble for not making dinner or cleaning up. I'd rather risk his anger then risk the idea of him feeling "nice" and sneaking into my bedroom. I snuck out and walked all the way to Damon's.

I knocked on his door and Stefan answered. "Your boyfriend's not here." He said, trying to close the door.

I stopped him. "Can I wait for him?"

"Do what you want." He walked away.

"Stefan?" I asked him as I followed him down the hallway.

"What?" He said irritated.

"Did I do something to make you not like me?" I wondered.

"No?" Stefan turned around.

"Then why are you so cold and pissed off when I'm around?" I questioned him.

"Look I'm not really thrilled about you two dating but it's none of my business."

"Is it because of what you saw?" I asked him nervously.

He sighed avoiding eye contact. "I don't want to get involved." I saw guilt ridden in his eyes.

"Damon doesn't know about what you saw." I admitted hoping he hasn't said anything in the past two months.

Stefan looked at me with concern. "He doesn't know?" He paused. "He didn't hurt you?"

My eyes widened. "No! He would never." I was shocked he would even suggest that.

A wave of relief filled his body. "I'm sorry." He said.

"Damon is the sweetest guy I've ever met. He's good to me." I reassured Stefan.

"I know my brother's a good man but he wasn't always the best and I jumped to conclusions. I should've known better."

"Why would you ever think he could do something like that?" I asked him.

"I don't know my family doesn't have a good history of being good people." Stefan said without revealing too much.

"I know Damon told me. If you ever want to talk about it with me I would listen." I offered my support.

"I'm fine." He lied.

"I'm sorry I didn't clear things up sooner but thank you for keeping it secret." I changed the subject.

"So what happened then?" He wondered with concern.

"I don't want to get into it." I was sweating.

"I won't tell him if that's what you think." He said sounding genuine but I barely know him.

"It's nothing. Look I'm fine and that's all that matters." I pleaded for him to let it go. I didn't want my life to inconvenience anyone.

Damon walked in and I put on a fake smile. "Hey!" I exclaimed, kissing him.

"What's going on?" He looked at his brother's face and back at mine. "Did he do something?" Damon questioned me while looking at Stefan.

"No. Of course not. Let's go upstairs." I tried to distract him.

He wasn't really buying it but he played along. "Okay." We went up to his room.

"What were you and Stefan talking about?" Damon asked as we walked into his room.

"Nothing. I just got here." I said quickly.

"You sure?" Damon was sure that he noticed something weird.

"Yes I'm sure." I laughed.

"Okay." He was confused at what was going on.

I sat on Damon's bed. "How was your afternoon?" I asked him the best thing I could think of in the moment.

"Fine? What's up? Did you walk all the way over here?" He asked worried.

"Yeah I'm fine I just wanted to continue what we were doing last night." I smirked.

"Oh really?" He leaned closer towards me and tucked my hair behind my ear. "God you're so beautiful." He kissed me.

The butterflies I felt every time he kissed me felt so intense. "This birthday has been so much better than I could've ever imagined with you by my side." I smiled at him, forgetting all of my problems and just feeling so wanted as he looked into my eyes. I never wanted to forget this feeling.

He got up and grabbed something out of his dresser. He sat down next to me. "I got you something for your birthday. I'm sorry it's late but I didn't have time before."

Damon pulled out a jewelry box from his pocket and placed it into my hand. I smiled sweetly looking at him as I opened it. My jaw dropped seeing the silver locket with a ruby on the outside. It was just like my mom's necklace. The one that got lost in the accident.

I looked at him with water filling my eyes. "Where did you get this?" I asked him, looking back at the beautiful necklace.

"I noticed a picture of Jenna and your mom when I was over there helping Alaric paint his office. It was after you told me about your parents so I asked her about it and she told me how important it meant to you. It was hard to find but the look on your face makes it all worth it."

I smiled through tears. "Damon this means everything to me. My dad gave my mom that necklace when he told her he loved her for the first time." I pulled back my hair.

Damon put the necklace on me. I had chills down my body. I could feel his hot breath of my neck. He clasped it and I turned around. He wiped the tears from my face. I had never felt this way before. This overwhelming feeling of love.

He stared into my eyes. "I love you Elena." He said softly, taking his hand into mine.

"I love you too." I kissed him on his perfectly soft lips.