Wednesday, January 22nd 2014

Damon paced his room in frustration. He couldn't figure out how to tell Elena the truth. She had been there yesterday, standing in front of her parent's graves, and it had almost destroyed his ability to stay strong.

He had been there not long ago, in that graveyard, as he watched her being lowered into the ground next to her parents. The woman he had loved for over a decade and a half had killed herself, never knowing that he loved her or that she had any other option than his cheating asshole brother.

He didn't know why he'd been given the chance to go back in time, but he knew he would do anything to stop Elena from marrying Stefan. He had a second chance, and he would be damned if he wasted it.

He thought back to that future New Year's Eve 2025. Caroline had come drunkenly into the main room, screaming for Elena to appear and then telling everyone that she had been having sex with Stefan for years and that he was leaving Elena for her. "Finally," in her words. As he looked for Elena, Bonnie intercepted and showed him the text she had gotten. "I know." Those were Elena's last words before she threw herself in front of an oncoming car. The coroner said she had died instantly.

In the end, he had been close to committing murder that night. If it weren't for the partygoers pulling him off of his brother, he would have beaten him to death —happily. As it was, Stefan ended up with a broken nose, a fractured eye socket, and a severe concussion.

With the confusion and anger over her husband's cheating and the objection from half the town to Stefan's planning the funeral, it had been delayed. That was why he had gone to the graveyard yesterday. She had been buried there on January 21st, 2025, and he wanted to honor the fact that the spot she had occupied was empty.

When his life was reset to the past, he didn't know why it had returned to the first of the new year. He had gone to sleep on the night of the funeral and woke up on January 1st, 2014.

His hangover when he woke up hadn't surprised him. After all, he had gotten very drunk when he arrived home from the funeral. That night, he drank to forget, and yet the memory of her was still at the bottom of the bottle. It hadn't worked. What had confused him was why he had woken up in his bed and not passed out in the living room on the floor as he'd intended.

His joy at discovering the year had been immense, and he punched a hole in the wall to keep from crying. He refused to shed any more tears —she was alive.

Then he met her in the graveyard on the un-anniversary of her burial. It had left him feeling a chill down to his bones. She was upset in a cemetery, talking about being uninteresting. He wanted to scream at her that she had everything to live for and that throwing her life away had been stupid.

Telling her he loved her hadn't been planned, but he wasn't an idiot. His interactions with her were heading towards a confession. He just wished it hadn't come off as so awkward. She even thought he was kidding.

He shook his head. It didn't matter; he told her the truth and would start fighting for her. The idea of "stealing" her from his brother didn't make him feel like an asshole anymore. Stefan had that title firmly locked up on his end. Not that anyone knew, and not that it wouldn't be years before his brother cheated on her (or so he believed).

Damon had already decided to take action and work to make her love him. He just wished she didn't seem so sad and melancholy lately. The idea that she was feeling sorrow hurt him.

He grabbed up his phone to order her a new journal that didn't have that damn depressing black rose on it and raised one eyebrow when he was able to find the Amazon app* on his phone. He forgot how old it had been.

After scrolling through a more complicated app, he found a beautiful leather journal with the Tree of Life on the front. He ordered and is pleased to be able to select two-day shipping.* He had it shipped to his house and then put away his phone.

Amazon App was launched on March 22nd, 2011

Two-day free shipping started in February of 2005