Chapter 11 - Forever Yours

Elena POV 10/8 4:00am-11:30am

Jeremy's slow breathing fills the silent room as he sleeps, but I can't. Damon is finally alive, he is back and I had spent the last few hours lying on the floor, hoping that I'll fall asleep. It's pointless to try though, because I know that it won't happen. After another hour of futile resting, I decide to give up. I lift myself up off of the floor and slowly creep down the hallway, listening in each door to make sure everyone is asleep. After checking the rooms of everyone else, I make my way to the room I want to be in most-Damon's. I open the door as quietly as I can and sneak in, closing it shut behind me. As I turn around, I see Damon fast asleep o his side, half under the covers. My mind comes up with just about every scenario of how this could go, but I can't even make myself go near his bed. Instead, I lean my shoulder on the wall, angling my head as I watch him sleep peacefully. His ocean blue eyes are covered by his lids and I would do anything to see them again, so I decide to slowly walk over to the edge of the mattress. I crawl onto the side he's not occupying, the left side. Even when I am not with him, he leaves my side of the bed open. Hesitantly, I take my place beside him and lie on my side, watching his face as he breathes in and out. The decision to wake him up or watch him sleep plagues my mind as I watch him and I wonder if he's already detected my presence, but he remains fast asleep. I gently stroke a stray hair out of his face and his eyes flutter open. It startles me at first, but his gaze doesn't waver.

      "Elena," he mutters in a husky voice. "What are you doing?" I put my fingers to his lips and shush him, looking in his guilt-ridden eyes. I can tell he is hiding something from me.

      "Damon, what aren't you telling me?" He simply rolls his eyes and flips onto his back.

      "Yes Elena, I’ve been dead for almost a year and I am already keeping secrets from you,” his voice comes out sarcastically, but I don’t buy it. I prop myself up on my elbow and look intently and him until he turns to face me. “Elena, I’m not keeping anything from you.” His gaze looks deeply into my eyes, trying to ease my mind, and it does. All the apprehension falls from my shoulders and I smile. He responds with a smile and he strokes a lock of my hair behind my ear. His blue eyes lock with mine and I can’t think, so instead I react. I slowly move in and plant my lips against his. He seems surprised and pulls away for a second, but judging by my face, he leans forward and kisses me back. His lips move in sync with mine, growing more passionate with every passing second. I lock my fingers in his raven hair and twist so my body is positioned above him. “Elena, wait,” he whispers.

      “What?” My shoulders slump as I try to figure out what he is thinking.

      “I can’t. I can’t do this to Stefan,” he shakes his head and sits up to face me. I’m still sitting in his lap, and his change in position only brought us closer together, making me ache for him even more. But why bring up Stefan? Is he concerned about the sire bond? We already knew that was broken and I had already broken up with Stefan a while ago, and we’ve already made love. Twice. Why is this such a big deal?

      “Can’t do this to Stefan? What are you talking about, Damon?” I scan his features, waiting for him to forget his worry and kiss me again, but he doesn’t move. “Damon,” I take his face in my hands and smile, looking into his worried face, “I love you. You. Stefan is my past and I will always care for him, but you are the one I want to be with. I’m forever yours.” His eyes glaze over for a moment or two, but a smile breaks out across his face and he pulls me in for another kiss. He wraps one arm around my lower waist and places his other hand in my hair. I continue to kiss him passionately, our lips moving together as his tongue brushes the inside of my mouth. I push him back down harshly and his head hits the headboard with a thump. A low cry escapes his mouth as he winces. “Damon? Oh my god, Damon I’m so sorry! Are you okay?!” I question him frantically, hoping that I did not hurt him.

      “I’m fine, Elena. You can’t forget that even though I’m just as sexy, I’m not as durable.” He counters with a wink. I playfully punch his chest and smile when he flinches at my fist. “I can still take you, miss Gilbert.” With that, he grabs my waist with both hands and flips me over so he hovers above me. He bends down to place kisses on my collarbone, pushing the fabric of my t-shirt off my shoulder. I feel his breath on my neck as he growls, “Told ya.” before I close my eyes and surrender to him.

I wake up in his bed, the sun is barely rising in the sky, but I feel the warmth of Damon’s body beside me. I turn to face him and let out a huff of frustration, waking him up. He smiles before he opens his eyes.

      “Aw, come on pouty, what are you so upset about?” He opens his eyes with the smirk still on his face and he strokes my face with a chuckle.

      “Why not?” I state simply, and he knows what I mean. Last night, he wouldn’t let the evening progress any further than romance and kissing. We ended up talking for hours and it was great, but after almost a year of missing him, I’m surprised that’s all he would let us do. It was nice to have someone to talk to, but he seemed to be confused at times, like he did not know what I was talking about. I tried to fill him in on what has happened since he’s been gone, but a lot of the memories are painful and hard to talk about. Not having my humanity and all, I was not proud of some of the things I had done. But no matter what I told him, he did not judge me. Sure, sometimes he would make fun of me, but that is something I loved and hated about him. He could always make even the most serious things somewhat amusing. He traced his fingers along the curve of my waist over my t-shirt, smiling.

      “This is my shirt, isn’t it?” He points out as he raises an eyebrow at me. I can’t help but laugh because he’s right. When I had first turned off my humanity, I had turned it back on short after Bonnie’s promise to bring him back took it from his room to remember him. But after months of that empty promise never being fulfilled, I shut it off again and gave up hope.

      “That wasn’t my question,” I grumble, wanting him to answer my original question.

      “Elena, I know it’s hard to restrain yourself when it comes to me,” he starts off with his classic arrogance, “but I needed to talk to you.” I smile at his sweet excuse and then he continues on with an addition, “And there are a lot of other people here, some with super hearing.” My eyes widen. I had totally forgotten, that could have been bad.

      “You’re the one who usually needs restraint,” I scoff and he laughs as I try to ignore the second reason for passing up our tryst. I turn back around and rest my head on the pillow, closing my eyes, until I realize that the clock on the nightstand had said 5:20. I sit up quickly and throw my legs off the side of the bed, preparing to head back out to the living room until Damon’s voice catches my attention.

      “Where are you going? Elena?” I turn around and lean across the bed, locking our lips with a smile before getting up and walking to the door.

      “I should probably be there when Jer wakes up,” I call over my shoulder and see Damon bury his face back into the pillow, apparently still tired. He was the one who needed sleep the most of anyone, and I had kept him up all night talking. I giggle to myself as I quietly latch the door behind me and bound down the hallway, launching myself on the loveseat once it comes into view.

I roll my body over on the sofa and see my little brother still dozing on the other couch. I smile and lay my head on my arms, resting my eyes for a few minutes until I’m thrown off onto the floor. I hear Jeremy jump up and shout, but his voice soon falls to a mocking tone.

      “Is it a habit of yours to wake people up this way?” He laughs at my assailant. I roll over to see Damon standing on the other side of the couch with a smile directed towards Jeremy.

      “It beats ‘good morning,’” Damon shrugs and walks over to the kitchen, opening the fridge and looking for something to eat.

      “Why did I miss you exactly?” Jeremy mutters and sits back down on the couch, leaning back. I scowl and get up, rushing behind him with vampire speed and emptying half a bag of flour on his head. Jeremy bursts out into uncontrollable laughter and I smile, patting Damon on the back.

      “Good morning,” I mock. He wipes the flour off his face and turns to face me, placing his hand in the half empty bag and throwing the powder in my face. I don’t know why, but I didn’t expect it. Knowing Damon, I should have expected this, but I guess I had forgotten this kind of spontaneity. I missed it. Jeremy’s laughter finally calmed and Stefan and Caroline came trotting out of the hallway.

      “What is going on out here?” Caroline interrupts as she tries to rub the sleep out of her eyes. Stefan stops in his track once he sees the kitchen and when Caroline finally looks up, so does she. “What happened?” she raises her voice but can’t suppress her smile when she sees Damon coated in flour. Stefan explodes in laughter, causing Jeremy to relapse into his state of hilarity. I haven’t seen Stefan smile, much less laugh, in the longest time and I can’t help but smile and giggle along with them.

      “Alright. You,” Damon laughs, wrapping his arms around my waist, “get to clean all this up. I need to eat…” He pulls away and walks to the fridge before turning on his heel and heading back down the hallway instead, “and shower. I need to shower now too.” I laugh and begin to clean up the powder when Jeremy and Bonnie head out to the lake with Matt. Caroline scoffs and walks back down the hall.

      “Hey, Stefan and I are going to go get something to eat.” Caroline calls from down the hall as she changes out of her robe and rushes back out to the sitting room. “Are you going to be okay?” She eyes me for an answer.

      “Yeah, I’ll be fine. I’m just going to make something to eat.” I smile and stand up, brushing my hands against my sides as I wander to the sink to wash off my face. “Besides, I brought a blood bag for me. Since the sire bond is broken, I can actually drink from them. I’ll see you guys later though.” The water splashes onto my face, beads dripping down into the sink below.

      “Alright, see you later. By the way, Bonnie took Matt and Jeremy to show them some new magic she has been working one.” Stefan speaks up and I hear the door close behind them as they leave.

I continue to wash the flour off my face, but it’s still caked into my hair so I have no choice but to shower.  I sigh, throwing the towel on the counter and preheating the oven. I’ll put some chicken in for lunch once I get out of the shower. I make my way down the hallway and take off my shirt and shorts since no one else is here anyways. Humming, I throw the clothes on my dresser and begin stripping off my bra until the sound of the shower catches my attention. The water stops and I stumble to the closet to wrap a towel around my half-naked body. After a few minutes pass and no one emerges from the bathroom, I relax and make my way towards the door figuring that he probably went out the other way. The bathroom connects two rooms and so there are two ways to leave, but I was wrong. As I reach for the door handle, it turns and Damon steps out with a towel wrapped around his waist.

      “Oh, uh.” I stutter and try not to eye his naked chest. I’ve seen him naked before, but every time I’m near him I get nervous just like when I was human. His trademark smirk crosses his face and I can’t help but smile along with him.

      “You missed me, Elena. If you wanted to join me in the shower, you should’ve asked.” His arrogant tone brings a giggle out of my throat along with a growl. My instincts kick in and I trace my finger down his chest, collecting the droplets of water. His breath catches and his confident smirk disappears. I look back up at him and smile.

      “I still need a shower, you know.” I try to sound confident and sexy but my voice comes out rather breathy. I’ve never been very good at arrogant remarks like Damon was, but I knew how to dominate him with actions rather than words. He laughs shakily and grabs my hand, pushing it away from him. He has never had restraint, especially when it comes to me, so I scoff and slam the bathroom door behind me. I turn the shower on and drop my towel and underwear, submersing myself into the falling water. Not long after, the door flies open and the curtain is flung back, revealing a determined Damon. He pushes through and wraps his arms around my waist, pressing his lips against mine. Once the immediate surprise passes, I wrap my hands in my hair and return the kiss. We ignore the hot water streaming around and push closer together so that not even a drop of water could come between us. I rip off the towel tied around his waist and throw it on the floor. Our kisses grow more and more passionate as he leaves a trail of kisses down my neck and pushes me against the wall. A giggle escapes my mouth during our kiss as he lifts me up and wraps my legs around his waist, making us one.

I step out of the shower and turn the knob so the water shuts off. Damon follows close behind and wraps a towel around his waist.

      “Hey, can you hand me that towel?” I ask Damon. He nods and grabs the towel on the rack and hands it over to me, but before I can grab it he lifts it so I can’t reach. “Damon.” I murmur.

      “And what if I don’t want you to be clothed?” He smirks as he closes the space between us. I smirk back at him and use my vampire speed to grab it and wrap it around my body. His face shows a look of surprise that soon turns to irritation, remembering that he is no longer a vampire. A sparkle in his eye, however, shows that he isn’t giving up as he chases me to the bedroom and grabs me around the waist from behind and throws us both on the bed laughing.

      “Hey, Elena? Can I ask you-” Jeremy pokes his head in from the hallway; I guess I forget to close the door. Luckily, Damon rolls off the side of the bed just in time to avoid Jeremy. “Lena, why are you lying on the bed in a towel?” My mouth hangs open as my mind works hard to find an excuse. “You know what? Nevermind. I don’t want to know,” Jer says as he puts his hands up in surrender, backing out into the hallway. I let out a huge sigh of relief as Damon quietly pokes his head up on the side of the bed, looking at me and trying to hold back a smile. “By the way, Damon can get up now,” Yells Jeremy from down the hall.

      “Oops,” is all Damon says after a good 2 minutes of awkward silence. He looks to me to be the first to have a reaction – anger, worry, running after Jer. But the only thing I do is smile and laugh, Damon following suit.

      “Well I guess that just proves your stealth is no longer heightened.” I chuckle. Damon pushes himself up and shuts the door, turning back to me with a genuine smile of happiness.

      “I don’t care, all I know is that my love for you is as strong as ever,” he says. It’s always rare to get genuinely sweet remarks from him, but this was one of those shining moments. He strolls back over to the bed and sits beside me, holding my face in his hands and placing a soft kiss on my lips. “And if you’ll let me, I’ll love you like this forever.” I open my eyes and look into his ocean blue eyes with a smile.

      “Forever,” I repeat and kiss him with all the certainty in the world.